Perfect
by SilverEyeShinobi
Summary: Tenten is shocked when famous teen actor Neji Hyuuga enters her high school. Without realizing it, Tenten gets trapped in the acting world where everything is supposed to be perfect, and she soon realizes it's far from it. NejiTen.
1. Chapter 1: For a New Life

**A/N: I haven't been getting a whole lot for The Fifth Element: On Tour lately simply because there's no plot. I'll do my best to pull myself out of the hole later, but right now I want to get this one out.**

Summary: Tenten is awestruck when popular teen actor Neji Hyuuga enters her high school. She's clueless as to why he's here, and why he's putting up with the attention in his own unique manner. Without realizing it, she becomes trapped in the acting world where everything is supposed to be perfect. She soon realizes it's far from it.

Chapter 1: For a New Life

Neji stared at the script. There was no way they wanted him to act in this film. But they did. He flipped through the twenty plus pages for the two hour, completely senseless, PG-14 rated, movie where he was going to be playing the lead male.

He looked up at the director. "Where's the plot?" Neji asked bluntly. If he couldn't see sense in this movie, he wasn't acting in it.

The director put his arm around Neji's shoulder. "You don't need plot to make a feature film. Sometimes you have to loosen up."

Neji shrugged off his arm. "Unless you can tell me where the sense is, I refuse to act in it."

"Oh don't be that way, Mr. Hyuuga."

Oh great. Here comes the writer to defend his work.

"I'm sorry, all right?" He said to him. "If there's no rhyme or reason to a story, I don't bother following it."

"Neji, Neji, Neji..." Neji's uncle walked in at that moment.

That was NOT the voice he wanted to hear at that particular moment.

"You can't be picky in show business." Hiashi Hyuuga stated simply.

Neji held the script out to him. "Here. You act in it then."

"I'm not an actor, Neji." Hiashi said simply.

"**All right team!**" The director called through the megaphone. "**Head on back to your rooms! We'll start rehearsal tomorrow!**"

Neji sighed with relief and shoved the script into his backpack, not caring whether it got damaged or not. He swung it onto his shoulder and turned around to come face to face with Hiashi. His face looked like stone. He knew something had irked him, and he knew it had something to do with him.

"What?" Neji asked bluntly and attempted to walk past him.

He stuck his arm out, blocking Neji's exit. Neji glared at him out of the corner of his eye.

"Don't give me that look." Hiashi said in a monotone. Oh yeah. He wasn't happy.

"What do you want from me?" Neji asked.

"Neji, if you're going to be a famous actor in the future, you can't be refusing parts."

"Whoever said I wanted to be famous?"

Hiashi sighed and shook his head. "Neji, you already are famous. You know that. It won't be good for your reputation if you refuse a movie."

"Well in that case, it's a no win situation for me!" Neji cried. "It's either I screw my reputation in the movie industry, or I screw my reputation with the general population."

Hiashi looked at him curiously.

Neji yanked the script back out of his backpack. "Do you seriously think I want THIS to be my image? This movie is so bad, it's inappropriate. It's not even funny at all! It's like that stupid movie _You_ _don't mess with the Zohan_ or whatever the bloody hell it was called." Neji shoved past Hiashi and threw the script over his shoulder. The papers fluttered to the floor with satisfying rattling sounds.

"Neji!" Hiashi called after him.

"Forget it. I quit." He heard a few unmistakable gasps of shock around him.

"Why?" Someone cried. "You're going to give up this career?"

"Neji! Stop!" Hiashi cried.

Neji turned and looked at him. "I've been acting since I was six. I don't even know who I am as a person anymore because of it. I've been wanting to quit and live a normal life for years now!"

"What do you mean, Neji?" Hiashi cried. He had never seen him so frantic.

"I'm going to go to school, I'm going to get a real job, I'm going to live like a normal sixteen year old teenager!"

"You're already going to school!"

"A PRIVATE school where the only people I get to hang out with are snobby rich kids who are either like me, or have family who are famous. I'm going to go to public school where I can actually live."

"Neji, you're famous. There is no way you're going to be able to survive in public school!" Hiashi cried.

"Watch me." And with that, Neji walked out of the room and slammed the door behind him.


	2. Chapter 2: No Freaking Way

**In this story, whenever it refers to first person, it's in Tenten's point of view. Just for refrence.**

Chapter 2: No Freaking Way

I opened my eyes and the first thing I thought was _go back to sleep_. But I knew it was the first day of school. I snuck a glance at my clock and read 6:45. I had to be at school for 8:30, so I could catch another fifteen minutes of sleep.

If it wasn't for my growling stomach, I could've gone back to sleep. I slid out of bed and rubbed my face, waking up almost immediately. I headed downstairs and made myself breakfast as usual. I got dressed in a new outfit that I had been saving just for the first day and tied my hair up in those twin buns that had earned me the nickname 'meatball head' just because I could. I didn't care what people thought of me. That's why regardless of all the teasing, I persisted in my hairstyle. I'm pleased to say the teasing stopped.

After that, I went off to school. It was an ordinary morning to what would be an ordinary day.

.oOo.

I met with my friends in the cafeteria of our high school as usual. Sakura was my best friend. I would go to her with anything.

"Tenten!" She called, waving at me as I walked into the cafeteria. I sat down at the table and began comparing timetables with her.

"Saku-chan! Tennie-chan!" A loud voice called into the cafeteria. That was Ino. She wasn't my BEST friend, but she was a good friend. Just think about a best friend, and take it down a notch.

"So guys, what's up?" She asked as she sat down.

"The ceiling." I replied simply.

Ino gave me a sideways look.

I smirked. "Up is a direction."

Sakura laughed.

Ino sighed. "Tenten, you need to loosen up."

"Hey, I can't help but say that!" I laughed.

Ino shook her head. "So, what's up?"

Sakura giggled. "Nothing really."

"Same. I'm glad to be back in school though." I replied.

Ino leaned towards Sakura, putting her elbows on the table. "So...Sakura..."

Sakura began to look nervous.

"How's it going with Sa-su-ke?"

I shot Sakura a look. "You're dating HIM?" This was news to me.

Sakura's cheeks flushed slightly.

"Since when?"

"Mmm, since about a week ago." Ino said easily. "And she's only dating him because I set them up!"

"Oh god, what did you do this time?" If I knew Ino, it involved revealing clothing, a club, and Truth or Dare.

"If you want to know..." a monotone voice said behind us. Judging by the way Sakura's face lit up, it was Sasuke. "Ino tormented me for an entire month until I asked her out."

Ino shrugged with a smile on her face as Sasuke sat down beside Sakura. I immediately got worried. If I had to spend the school year with Sasuke, I think I would go insane.

Ino flipped out a magazine. I immediately turned away from Sasuke and Sakura to look at Ino.

"So what's new in the world of celebrities?" I asked, pretending to be interested.

Ino raised one perfectly manicured finger in my direction. It was her 'silence' gesture. I looked over her shoulder at what she was reading and sighed at the image of the boy with long brown hair and dazzling silver eyes. What was his name again? I could never remember things like that. I just knew that at least half of the school, most likely more, were total fans of that actor. I've seen one of the movies he was in only because it was about a boy with epic superpowers. He wasn't a half bad actor either. I just wasn't one to obsess over him like lots of people.

Ino's jaw was halfway to the floor as she finished the article. She slammed the magazine on the table.

"Neji Hyuuga quit!" She cried.

Sakura tore her eyes off of Sasuke to look at Ino with surprise. "He did WHAT?"

Ino put her finger on the magazine. "It says in here that two weeks ago he quit acting over script issues, and left! He hasn't been seen since then!"

"Script issues?" I scoffed. "Actors these days."

"What else does it say?" Sakura asked, looking over at the magazine.

"That's the thing! It doesn't say anything else! That's the whole topic of the article! And look at the front page!" Ino flipped the magazine to the front page. There it showed Neji's unmistakeable face from his part in his most popular movie, covered in a big label saying 'Neji calls it quits'.

"I wonder why he quit." I murmured. "There has to be a bigger picture than just script issues."

The bell rang at that moment. We all stood up and headed to our classes. Ino and I had the same class first period: Math. However, the moment we left the cafeteria we were faced with a massive wall of people. They all seemed to be chattering excitedly.

"What's going on?" I asked.

Ino began standing on her toes to see over the heads.

"Clear out! Clear out!" A teacher called, making sweeping motions with her arms. The crowd began to disperse. Ino and I walked up the stairs, but not without looking over our shoulders. We saw someone with long brown hair shaking the teachers hand before taking off down the hall.

"Who the hell..." Ino said, her face twisted in an expression of confusion, shock, and various other emotions that I can't name.

"Come on Ino." I grabbed her arm and attempted to drag her up the stairs. She remained rooted in position. "INO!" I yelled.

"What?" Ino's head snapped towards me. She seemed baffled by something.

"What is it?"

Ino looked back towards the hall where the mane of long hair had disappeared. "I don't know. I'm just thinking. But it CAN'T be..."

"Come on." I continued up the stairs. Ino followed me, still looking baffled. We made it to math class with a minute to spare.

The class was abuzz with activity. People were gossiping, chattering and whispering to each other.

"Ino! Ino!" A girl called with panic when we walked in. Ino, smelling something juicy, moved faster than I've ever seen her move. I followed her for no reason.

"Did you see him?" The girl asked.

"Who, who?" Ino asked eagerly.

"Neji Hyuuga! I swear! He's in this school!"

"WHAT?" Ino and I screamed at the same time.

"No way!" Ino cried.

"You're lying!" I stated.

My cell phone vibrated in my pocket. I quickly turned so the teacher couldn't see it and flipped it open. It was from Sakura.

_Tenten! Neji Hyuuga's in my class!_ It said.

I pressed my fingers to the keypad and quickly typed _No freaking way...I just heard a rumour that he was here, but you just confirmed it for me. Are you absolutely sure?_ I hit send.

The bell rang a second time and everyone jumped in their seats. The teacher stood in front of the class. His name was Mr. Umino. He had a scar on his face. The first thing he did was tell the class about it, saying that he played hockey as a child and got tackled to the ground and got cut right across the face with someone's skate. It was an impressive tale.

My phone vibrated again and I pulled it out quickly and read the text.

_Yes! It's him! He's sitting right beside me! I would not lie about this!_ I slid my phone shut as Mr. Umino began to speak again. The bell rang again after an agonizingly slow wait. I wanted to know if THE Neji Hyuuga was actually in the building.

As I headed towards drama class I was looking around constantly. I noticed that everyone else was doing the same thing. Things spread fast in this school. To my disappointment, I didn't see him. When I walked into my drama class, it was buzzing with excitement. I took my seat in the circle of chairs and chattered with the people around me. The door opened and everyone's head turned towards it. The room went dead silent at the sight of the long haired boy walking into the classroom. I couldn't believe it. It was Neji Hyuuga in the flesh walking into our classroom and taking his seat in our circle.

The classroom began to hum with whispers, and cell phones were whipped out all at once.

"Put the phones away!" The teacher barked. The phones slowly went away, but not before everyone finished their texts. Thus, the teacher did a full loop of the classroom and took three phones before they all disappeared back into pockets and bags.

"I don't want to see cell phones in this classroom." The teacher said calmly. She was quite pretty for a teacher. We soon learned that her name was Miss Yuhi. She immediately began to make a big deal about the rules of the class. No gum, no laughing at skits unless they are meant to be comedic, and to always use each other's names. To start us off, she told us her full name, and her favourite thing to do. The person to her left would say her name and what her hobby was, before saying their name and their favourite thing to do.

The teacher's full name was Kurenai Yuhi, and her favourite thing to do was to paint. It went around the classroom and eventually it got to me. I went through the class before eventually doing my part.

"My name is Tenten Akiyama, and my favourite thing to do is karate." I said simply.

The introductions continued around the classroom. I knew everyone was waiting for Neji's introduction. Luckily we didn't have to wait long.

"My name is Neji Hyuuga...My favourite thing to do is read." He said.

I could almost feel the disappointment in the air. Everyone expected something interesting. He just had to go with reading. I thought maybe he would say something awesome, like he did Kendo in his spare time. Or even knew how to swordfight. For goodness sakes, why reading?

By the time the game finished, the bell rang and everyone filed to their next classroom.

I arrived in my next class: English. I was shocked to find out that Neji was in that class as well! But I found that I wasn't as excited about it as I was before. I mean, okay, so Neji Hyuuga's in my school. So what's he doing here? There has to be a reason. It turned out that I ended up sitting beside him in the front row.

Our English teacher was a silver haired man named Mr. Hatake. He was reading a book at his desk. Reading the cover immediately made me question this teacher. _Make Out Paradise_? Are you serious?

I heard a snigger beside me. I saw Neji with his hand over his mouth, staring at the book in our teachers hand while trying not to laugh.

I immediately decided to go on with the game.

"Mr. Hatake?" I called, raising my hand. He looked up at me. "What are you reading?" I smiled sweetly at him as the class immediately began to laugh. Oh yeah. The class had seen the title too.

Mr. Hatake's cheeks literally turned pink, earning him more laughs from the class.

"Is it any good?" I asked, earning me a ton of laughs. See, this is what people usually ask when they see a book they are 'interested' in. I wasn't interested in the book, I just wanted to make him squirm.

Mr. Hatake's cheeks got pinker. I have never seen anything so freaking funny in my life. Now for the grand finale...Neji got to it first.

"Could you tell us what it's about?" He finished with the perfect innocent voice, complete with British accent. The classroom exploded with laughter. I felt like I was dying.

Mr. Hatake cleared his throat and set the book down. "All right, all right, you've had your laugh. Settle down."

Neji continued sniggering behind his hand, as did the rest of the class. A random giggle tore through the classroom and the laughter fired back up again. Mr. Hatake sighed in defeat and picked his book back up again, causing the laughter to swell to an impossible height. Mr. Hatake soon caught on to the fact that it was his book that caused his class to lose control, and shoved it into his backpack.

"Mr. Hatake!" Someone cried, raising their hand. The class turned towards him.

Mr. Hatake looked at the boy.

"I couldn't help but notice you were on volume six! Do you by chance have the whole series?"

The class killed themselves laughing again.

Mr. Hatake stood up and walked to the front of his desk. He sat on it. "What is your name?"

"Suigetsu!" The boy laughed.

"Suigetsu, I trust you will refrain from being the class clown."

"THAT'S MY JOB!" A blonde haired boy screeched from the corner.

"Shut up, dobe!" I recognized Sasuke's voice.

"No way, teme!"

"Dobe!"

"Teme!"

"DOBE!"

"TEME!"

"SHUT UP!"

The class went dead silent at the sound of Mr. Hatake's loud voice. Note to self: do not mess with this teacher.

"I do not want you to judge me based on my choice of literature-"

"Oh so you're not a pervert?" Suigetsu cried.

The class burst out laughing.

"Do I have to send you down to the office on the first day of school?" Mr. Hatake asked.

Suigetsu shook his head.

Mr. Hatake went on with his lesson. Finally, the bell rang and we all took off. I had gym next. As it turned out, Neji was going there as well. Damn was I lucky! Whoa, wait...lucky? Okay, I admit it...Maybe I had a tiny crush on him and I was slightly infatuated with him. But that wasn't a problem, right? RIGHT?

"Schmuck!" I cried as my bag tore. Okay, yeah. Backpack tearing on the first day of school: not good. However I had rejected the idea to get a new backpack this year. I loved my bag! And now, out goes the bottom. Guess who stopped to help me out. If you guessed: a certain ex actor who had for some unexplained reason showed up at the school, you win!

I grabbed my newly obtained English text and searched for my math text, and found it in the hand of Neji Hyuuga who was watching me with his incredible pale eyes.

"T-Thank you..." I said nervously. I took the textbook and tucked it under my arm with the other one.

"Didn't you get a new backpack for the new school year?" He asked. A simple question. I found I was a lot less nervous.

"No, I didn't. I like this backpack too much."

He smirked. I tried not to blush.

"So you like the backpack so much that you ran it into the ground?"

I laughed. He had a point. It was like people and their animals. Say their beloved fifteen year old cat begins to develop health issues. People would spend thousands of dollars just to keep them alive. I still remember sewing it up five times last year. Now it was officially dead.

"Think it deserves a funeral?" I asked.

Neji laughed. "Definitely. That thing looks like it went through hell and back."

I laughed again. I suddenly remembered where we were. "Gotta get to class." I said. I took off for the gym.  
"See you around then." I heard him say. My heart just about stopped. Did he really just say that? I shook it off and entered the gym.

"Hey Sakura!" I called to her upon entering the gym.

Sakura beckoned me over with a frantic hand.

"Tenten!" She cried when I neared.

"What's up?" I asked.

"Have you seen him yet?" She asked.

"Who? Neji?"

Sakura nodded.

"Yeah. He's in two of my classes."

Sakura's jaw dropped. "Damn you're lucky!" Then she looked smug. "But I've spoken to him."

"So have I!" I said smugly.

Sakura's jaw dropped. "Okay, well I've made him smile!"

"I've made him LAUGH!" I said triumphantly.

"Damn!" Sakura snapped her finger. "You've beaten me this time."

"He also said 'See you around' when I left."

Sakura's eyes widened. "All right now you're lying."

I shook my head.

"You're kidding me!"

The teacher walked in at that moment.

"All right maggots!" She cried.

"Oh great...another psycho..." I heard someone mutter. I giggled slightly.

"Anko Mitarashi is my name, but you will call me Miss Mitarashi! Clear?"

We all nodded.

"YES SENSEI!" Anko cried.

"Yes sensei." Everyone said dully.

"MORE ENERGY! YES SENSEI!"

"Yes sensei!" We called.

"Whenever I give you an order, that is how I want you to reply! Clear?"

"Yes sensei!"

Anko smirked. "Good. We'll get along just fine."

"I pity the boys." Sakura whispered in my ear.

I turned around to look towards the boys. I almost laughed at the sight of a man in a green spandex suit. All the boys, including Neji, looked like they were in a torture chamber.

Anko began to go through everything about the rules of the gym. Then guess what? On our first day, she ordered us to jog in whatever we were wearing at the time! I pity half of the girls in my gym class as they were wearing flip-flops. Soon after, we heard a cry of, "BOYS! DO NOT LET OUR YOUTHFUL FLOWERS DEFEAT US! RUN! RUN! RUN!" and the boys joined the mad dash.

"Our gym teachers are INSANE!" Sakura cried.

I laughed at her. I could do with a little insanity from time to time. The bell rang a few minutes later and people made a beeline for the door.

"NOT A CHANCE!" Both of the teachers cried. "Keep running!" I shrugged and kept running while over half of both of the classes stopped and attempted to leave. I knew I wasn't going anywhere, so I just ignored everything and kept running. Sakura was right beside me. I realized there were two others still running as well. One of them was Neji, the other was a black haired boy I didn't know the name of. Everyone else looked bitter at the fact that they weren't allowed out of the gym. Sakura quit soon after and I just kept going, zoning out as I pretended my legs weren't aching at the moment.

After another five minutes when I ran by Anko I unleashed my fury onto her.

"Hey! Miss Mitarashi! This is ridiculous! Why do I have to run for you when class is over?" I cried.

"It's a contest!" Anko cried. "Girls versus boys! Nobody goes home unless there's a winner!"

I rolled my eyes. By now I had done a full lap of the gym again. "Then I quit!" I stopped running and picked up my books. "Boys win! Let's go home!"

I shoved my way out the door along with everyone else. They were incredibly relieved.

"Thanks!" They called at me.

"Why'd you quit?"

I turned around and came face to face with...Neji. I was surprised, I'll admit that.

"I quit because I'm not going to be a pawn in someone's rivalry." I said easily. "If they want to beat each other, they're going to have to do it without my help."

Neji smirked. "True." He walked past me and headed for the door. I suddenly had a single question that I had to ask.

"Neji!" I called after him.

He turned and looked at me.

"Are you really, I mean...Are you-"

"No I am not the actor." He turned and headed for the door again.

"It's because you quit, isn't it?" I asked, jogging after him.

"Why are you so persistent?" He looked at me.

"Because if you don't tell me it's going to kill me until I find out the truth."

"Well then dig yourself a grave." He said bluntly.

I stood there like an idiot, staring after him as he walked out of the school. Just who was Neji, and what was he doing here? I was determined to find out.


	3. Chapter 3: Making Amends

**A/N: I woke up this morning and turned on my computer only to find that...I have over 40 e-mails in my inbox. Thank you gracious reviewers! I love you all!**

**This chapter is dedicated to DarkAngel2098, SparkDazzleDuez, Angelwings228, eternalsmiles, Rixclassa, and renesmeecullenisme (hi Twilight fan...took me five seconds to dissect your name...XD),**

**Enjoy the next chapter!**

Chapter 3: Making Amends

I spent the rest of the day with Sakura and Ino. We went to get me a new backpack at the mall before we decided to hang out in the food court. They were chattering constantly about Neji the whole time. I was only half listening.

"_Neji!" I called after him._

_He turned and looked at me._

"_Are you really, I mean...are you-"_

"_No I am not the actor." He turned and headed for the door again._

"_It's because you quit, isn't it?" I asked, jogging after him._

"_Why are you so persistent?" He looked at me._

"_Because if you don't tell me it's going to kill me until I find out the truth."_

"_Well then dig yourself a grave."_

I sighed. Why had he acted like that? Was he playing dumb? Or playing defensive? I ran my mind over the words again.

"_Well then dig yourself a grave."_

I closed my eyes. There...right there...there's a hidden meaning in that sentence. I ran the words through my head a few more times.

"Yoo hoo! Tennie!" Ino waved her hand in my face.

"Who, what?" I said stupidly.

"You're completely zoning out!" Ino put her elbows on the table and looked at me with her big blue eyes. "Is there something you're not telling us?"

I shook my head. "No."

Sakura was watching me now too. "Did Neji say something to you?"

I stared at her. "What makes you think he did?" A simple lie, but hey, I could pull it off.

Sakura shrugged. Mission accomplished.

.oOo.

I spent another hour with Sakura and Ino before I went home. I did what I always do at the end of the day. I watched a bit of television, I ate dinner, and I watched a little more television and I went to bed. But it's usually at night when my true inspiration comes.

I ran Neji's words through my head again and again while I stared at the ceiling. Next thing I knew, it hit me.

"_Because if you don't tell me it's going to kill me until I find out the truth."_

"_Well then dig yourself a grave."_

I understood. He didn't want to tell me he was the actor. He was pretending he wasn't for some reason. He was pretending he never was. There was a reason Neji Hyuuga was in my school. I didn't know what it was, but he didn't want to tell anyone why. There was a reason for that too.

"Damn, I'm such an idiot!" I hissed to myself. What a fool I was, confronting him like that. I should've known he wouldn't want a confrontation.

.oOo.

When I got to school the first thing I did was look for Neji. I found him with his nose in a book in the library. Note to self: If someone's favourite thing to do is read, chances are, you'll find them in the library.

I sat down in the chair across from him. My stomach twisted with nerves. I began to take those stage skills I had learned from my two years of drama class and put them to work. Just do it.

"Neji?" I said suddenly.

He looked up from his book. I could see the expression on his face shift from serenity to slight annoyance in half a second. I knew I would lose his attention in another half a second, so I immediately continued on with my speech.

"I'm sorry about yesterday." I said simply.

The annoyance on his face shifted to confusion.

"I..." I sighed. "You're here for your own reasons, and none of that is my business, so I'm sorry for asking you such personal questions."

Neji watched me calmly.

"So..." I stuck my hand out and smiled. "Let's start over! Hi! I'm Tenten Akiyama!"

To my surprise, he smiled right back and shook my hand.

"Hi. I'm Neji Hyuuga." He said.

After that, he went back to his book. I decided not to bother him again. I stood up myself and began going through the book shelves. I eventually pulled a book called _Graceling_ off the shelf. I liked the description of it. People with talents called Graces who are identified by the fact that their eyes are two different colours. For example, their left eye is blue, the other is green.

I checked the book out and sat back down in the chair to read it. The bell rang and I immediately stood up to head for math class. When I got to math class, I took my seat beside Ino. Ino was still chattering about Neji Hyuuga being in the school. For the first time, it annoyed me.

_Just leave him alone! _I screamed at them in my head.

Mr. Umino started the lesson once the bell rang again to start the class. I was grateful for the distraction. When I was doing math, my brain would go completely blank and focus entirely on the math in front of me. When I was done, I would look around at the sound of all the noise and be like, _you guys aren't done yet?_ It was amusing. For me at least.

I handed in my work and pulled out my book again. After another twenty pages worth of the book, the bell rang. I packed up my stuff and headed for drama class. When I got there, I sat down in the circle of chairs and proceeded to sit and wait. I watched people come in and I attempted to put names to the faces of the people. I realized that Sasuke was in my drama class. How on earth did I miss that? Oh yeah...because he was after Neji and I was too busy thinking about his hobby to realize he was in the class.

I felt bad for Neji when he walked in. He sat down in a chair and next thing he knew, he was being bombarded by bold females who wanted to sit beside him. While they scrapped, Neji literally stood up and walked across the room. Even more surprising, he took the seat right beside me.

"What's up?" he asked.

I almost laughed at how casual it was.

"Not much," I replied. "You?"

"The usual." He sighed. "Too much attention...not enough peace..."

I laughed. "Sucks to be you."

He looked at me strangely. "Was that an insult, or sarcasm?"

I shrugged. "A tease I guess."

"So basically you were laughing at me."

I bobbed my head around for a second. "Sure, let's go with that."

He chuckled.

Miss. Yuhi started the class. She began to explain the basics of miming. I smiled. I remembered miming from grade 10. I have never had more fun with anything until we were being taught how to mime. The trick was to pretend everything was there. I learned how to pretend you were walking down the stairs, and how to do an elevator. However, to do those things you needed something called a mime elevator. Basically, all a mime elevator is, is a pole that's held off the ground so it's at about waist level. After that, put a blanket or something over said pole and whammo! You have a mime elevator. Now you just need to learn the technique for making it work. It's hard to describe so I won't go into detail, but basically all you have to do is keep one foot flat on the ground, and keep all your weight on that leg. The other leg has to be bent as if you were about to do the moonwalk. Then you slowly bend the leg that is straight, and slide down smoothly onto one knee so it appears as if you were going down an elevator. To do the stairs, you walk into the mime elevator and bob up and down while slowly going down. To do an escalator, just walk and go down smoothly. It's a lot of fun.

"I've never mimed before."

I shot Neji a shocked look. He was an actor, but he's never mimed?

"You've been missing out. It's a hell of a lot of fun!" I told him.

For this first day, we basically got into groups and began to create a skit involving miming. The rules were that we had to use three different mime techniques involving the mime elevator in a skit that was to be presented today. I felt bad for Neji. People wanted to be in his group really bad.

"Hey, it's Tenten right?"

I whipped around and guess who I saw. No it wasn't Neji, it was Sasuke! He was with a blonde boy that I recognized as the one who he was calling 'dobe' in yesterdays' English class.

"Oh hey, Sasuke. What's up?"

"Do you have a group?"

I shook my head.

"You can join ours if you want."

Neji finally managed to shake off all the people asking to be in his group.

"Yeah, sure," I said. I looked towards Neji.

"Sick, we get Hyuuga!" The blonde cried.

Neji rolled his eyes.

"Shut up dobe." Sasuke growled.

"Teme!"

Sasuke didn't give his response. He just grabbed a chair and sat down in it. Neji, Dobe and I sat in a circle with him.

"Okay, ideas." I began, taking the lead immediately. "What three techniques should we use?"

"Elevator!" Dobe cried. Okay, I had to stop calling him dobe, but I didn't know his name.

"Stairs." Sasuke said in a monotone.

"Quicksand pit."

Everyone shot Neji a look. Sasuke was actually showing emotion. He looked like he was shocked.

"You are a genius." Sasuke stated.

Quicksand pit wasn't even in the list the teacher gave us. But we totally could pull it off with the miming elevator.

"Okay," I stated. "But how are we going to incorporate a quicksand pit into a mime skit?"

"We go on an expedition in the jungle." Neji stated. "Or we re-enact Indiana Jones."

"Thinking about that...we could probably do a car in the mime elevator!" I cried. I stood up and began to bob jerkily up and down as if I was in a car on a bumpy road.

"Yeah!" Dobe cried. He held his hand up for a high five. I slapped it.

"What's your name by the way?" I asked him.

"Naruto Uzumaki!" he cried enthusiastically.

Okay, so now I didn't have to subconsciously call him 'dobe'.

"We can do the canoe as well." Sasuke said simply.

"No, there's four of us." I murmured, thinking about my canoe mishap last year. "It would be hard to sync up all four of us."

"True..." Sasuke murmured.

"We'll do stairs!" I cried. "As if we were going into a temple!"

"Yes!" Naruto cried.

"Now we're getting somewhere." Neji murmured.

"Okay, what order?" I asked.

The group went silent. Neji broke it a few seconds later.

"We start with the car as if we were going into the bush, then we have to get out, we walk around for a bit, then one of us ends up in the quicksand pit, the others pull them out, then we find the temple and go up the stairs." Neji stated easily.

"Will we be allowed to use the quicksand and the car?" Naruto asked. "I mean, it is pretty original, and nobody would've thought of it."

"I'll ask." I stood up and went over to Miss. Yuhi. I told her about our idea and she thought it was really good and approved of it. Once I returned to the group, we began casting.

"Neji you be Indiana Jones." Sasuke ordered. "The rest of us will be the followers, and you'll be the one getting stuck in a quicksand pit."

"Fine, fine." Neji muttered. "Are you going to pull me out with a snake?"

The group laughed.

"Yes!" Naruto cried.

After that, we began to create the dialogue.

"Five more minutes!" Miss. Yuhi called.

"Oh so we're presenting today?" Naruto asked as if he was shocked.

"Weren't you paying attention, dobe?" Sasuke muttered.

For the last five minutes, everyone was in the back looking for costumes. Neji threw on a brown leather jacket, and an Indiana Jones hat. The rest of us dressed casually in safari vests and hats. We emerged with the costumes under our arms so nobody would know what we were doing.

The first group consisted of a group of five girls. Their mime was merely functional. They didn't have anything going. The second group had a lot of humour. There were only four words to describe it: Panic in an Elevator. Two people were in the elevator, and it broke, causing them to drop to the ground. They stood back up again shaken up, but only able to get their heads over the mime elevator, signalling that they were stuck. Their arms waved frantically as they mimed screaming at each other.

The next group went up, and all you could see was a bunch of randomness to the point you had no idea what was going on.

Now it was our turn. When we went backstage, we briefed each other on just what was going on, and how we were going to be doing the car scene. In ten seconds flat we created a wave motion that helped with bumps. We finally began our skit. I had asked Ms. Yuhi if we could talk during our presentation and she had said yes, just as long as you pretend everything is happening.

Naruto, Sasuke and I stood on the stage as if we were waiting. Sasuke was tapping his foot impatiently. After another few seconds, Neji jumped onto the stage dramatically.

"G'day, tourists!" Neji said dramatically. "I am Nejiana Jones, and I will be your tour guide!"

"What took you so long?" Naruto cried.

"We paid good money to come here!" I cried.

"I ought to report you to the tourist station!" Sasuke cried.

As the words flew at him, Neji looked like he was deflating. He adjusted his hat and stuck his chest out again.

"Well, why are we sitting around fighting? Off we go!" Neji walked dramatically towards the 'car'. He pretended to step into it and looked back at us who were just standing there. "Come on, I'm here now, so I'll make it up to you by taking you to the Anouki Temple!"

"Anouki Temple?" I asked.

"It's better if I just show you. Now COME ON!" Neji made a wild motion with his hand.

Naruto, Sasuke and I jumped into the car with him. Neji pretended to turn a key and grip a steering wheel. We all went backwards in sync as Neji took off and began to bounce around. There were a few gasps of surprise at our 'expertise'.

"W-Wait, where is th-this Temple?" Sasuke asked while we bounced around.

"The temple is LOcated in the north eastern part of the jungle. We're going to drive three quarters of the way, but then we'll come into some dense BUSH and have to walk the rest of the way." Neji said, his voice lurching with the bumps.

"We have to WALK?" I screeched.

"It's not so bad. Don't worry." Neji stated.

"Are there lions?" Naruto asked.

"Or tigers?" I asked.

"Or...B-Bears?" Sasuke whispered.

"Lions and tigers and bears, oh my." Neji mocked, quoting The Wizard of Oz, earning a laugh from the people who had seen the movie, including Miss. Yuhi.

"There are no lions, as this is not Africa, there are no bears, but there are tigers." Neji stated. The bumps were slowing down. "Watch your head! We've got-"

"AH!" I cried, throwing myself backwards, pretending to get hit by a branch.

"Branches that will hit you..." Neji trailed off.

"Are we there yet?" Sasuke whined.

"Don't make me make you walk." Neji spat.

Neji made a few motions with his hands after we all flew forwards as if to stop the car.

"All right, everyone out!" Neji called. We all got out of the 'car' and began to walk.

"Are there snakes in here?" Sasuke asked, treading lightly.

Neji whipped around and stared at him. "Do...Not...Mention...Snakes..."

"Are you afraid of snakes?" I cried.

Neji turned around and began to walk. We chattered aimlessly while we pretended to leap over obstacles. Then, Neji stepped behind the mime elevator again and began to pretend to sink.

"You're sinking!" Naruto cried.

"Ah, I stepped in quicksand!" Neji cried. He was acting the sinking part well. "Help!" He put his arms up as his chest disappeared behind the curtain. Sasuke pretended to grab something.

"Grab the vine!" Sasuke cried.

"That's no vine, that's a-" I began.

"SNAAAAAKE!" Neji cried.

The room laughed.

"No! No! Pretend it's not a snake!" Sasuke cried. "It's a rope! A ROPE!"

Now, only Neji's arms were visible.

"Just grab the rope!" Naruto cried.

"Noooo!" Neji cried.

"Do you want to die?" Sasuke cried.

"No!"

"Then grab the rope!"

Neji eventually grabbed the invisible snake-rope and we all mimed pulling him out. He literally slid from behind the elevator on the ground. Then we continued on our expedition by fast forwarding it to the fact that we had just arrived at the temple. We walked up the 'stairs' and stupid Naruto at the end triggered the giant boulder which we ran from off the stage and yelled "SCENE!" earning us a round of applause.

The bell rang just seconds after we finished.

I practically danced off to lunch, totally ready to brag about the fact that I had just done a skit with Neji. I sat down at our usual table to be joined by Ino and Sakura, and soon after, Sasuke. Surprisingly, Naruto followed Sasuke to our table, and our circle of friends grew to five.

"That was sooo fun, eh?" Naruto asked, looking at me.

"Yeah!" I cried.

"What was fun?" Sakura asked.

"We did a mime skit with Neji in drama class." Sasuke said smugly.

"NO WAY!" Ino cried. "Damn I should've taken drama!"

"Oh, and I asked him if he wanted to sit with us at lunch." Naruto said with a shrug.

"You're forgiven!" Ino cried.

Sure enough, a few minutes later, in comes Neji.

"Yo." He said calmly as he sat down.

I wanted to punch Ino for ogling at him. We all ended up introducing ourselves to him, but Ino wouldn't stop staring at him, causing Neji to blatantly ignore her for the duration of the lunch period. We chatted casually with each other, and heck, Neji was good company. He loved listening to our random topics. At least I thought he did. He seemed pretty interested in the stories we had to tell.

When the bell rang, Neji, Sasuke, Naruto and I took off for English class.

"I swear, if he's still reading that book I'm not going to let him live it down." Neji sniggered. We all laughed.

It turned out that Mr. Hatake was writing something on the board when we walked in. We took our seats as everyone filed in. English class was mostly uneventful. We had to write a short story as a diagnostic to see where we were with our writing, and read a short story in our textbook and answer a bunch of questions.

Gym...was just plain insanity. Anko and the boys teacher, who we now just found out was Mr. Guy, loved pitting us against each other. It wasn't supposed to be a co-ed gym class, but Anko and Guy were sure as hell making it co-ed. We had a dodge ball war, and we played the favourite: Boing (1). In the end, the girls won the dodge ball game, and the boys won the Boing game. Heck, I was the ultimate at dodge ball! When everyone on my team got knocked off, I went head to head with Neji and eventually clobbered him with an expertly thrown pair of balls. When he moved to dodge the first one the other was already out of my hand and flying towards where he was heading and it smacked him in the chest. The look on his face was priceless.

**A/N: Left you hanging didn't I? Hehe. I know where I'm going with this story, but I'm not 100% sure how I'm going to get there. Be patient with me as I do my best to take it slow, yet not too slow as to bore you.**

**(1)Boing is a game I play in gym class. It is incredibly fun! Basically it's like basket ball when it comes to the invasion tactic, but it's more like Ultimate Frisbee. Basically, there's this trampoline like thing on either side of the gym in the basketball key. The trampoline is tilted on an angle. You and your team have to get the ball across the gym to that trampoline and throw a ball at the trampoline so that it bounces off of it. Then, the ball has to leave the basketball key and bounce off the ground. If the ball lands in the key, no point. If someone catches the ball before it hits the ground, no point. However, you can only throw the ball three times, then you have to take a shot, no matter how close you are. So you could be halfway across the gym and still score a point if you're really good.**


	4. Chapter 4: Something Fun

**A/N: Short absence! Gomen! This is a bit of a filler chapter...I couldn't come up with a good title for it because of that. Filler chapters are annoying to name...you almost want to come up with something un original like 'Filler Chapter'. XD.**

**This chapter is dedicated to .BAHAHIMALOSER., SparkDazzleDuez, DarkAngel2098, Tenten-Kunai, Rixclassa, and eternalsmiles. Thanks for the reviews guys! The rest of you: get your reviews in so you can be put on the list :D. I love feedback!**

**Enjoy!**

Chapter 4: Something Fun

The very next day I was tearing off for school. Neji was now literally a part of our circle of friends. When I got there, he was already sitting at our table with Sakura and Ino. Neji looked annoyed if you ask me.

When I got near the table he stood up and grabbed his backpack and nearly walked into me when he turned around.

"Where are you going?" I asked him.

He sighed and pushed past me.

I pointed at him and looked at Sakura and Ino.

Ino tried to look innocent. "I was just asking him about some of the movies he was in..."

I face palmed, slapping my hand to my forehead with a sharp _crack_. "You idiot!" I cried. "You don't talk to Neji about his career! Haven't you even thought of the fact that he's just trying to be normal?"

Ino frowned. "But...why would he try to be normal? If I had an acting career, I would live it up!" Ino tossed her head proudly as she went off into fantasy land. "Imagine... hot guys... money... mansions... luxury... Ah, I'd pamper myself!"

I shook my head and sat down.

"Ino, why don't you look at the negative side?" Sakura asked.

"What negative side?" Ino asked.

"Uh, paparazzi, gossip..." Sakura ticked them off her fingers, and looked up in surprise.

I turned my head just as Neji sat down again.

"Hey, I thought you left!" Ino cried.

"I just went for a breather." Neji murmured simply.

Ino snapped her head back to Sakura. "So, what was it that you were saying?"

Sakura shook her head. "I can't think of anything else to tell you the truth."

Ino let out her trademark sarcasm laugh. "See? That's two negatives to infinite positives!"

"What are you talking about?" Naruto cried as he sat down. Sasuke sat down a couple of seconds later.

"Living the Hollywood life!" Ino cried, throwing her arms up.

I distinctly heard a scoff beside me as Neji stood up again and left.

"Hey! Neji! Sorry! I won't mention it again!" Ino called after him. The cafeteria turned towards our table.

"Shut up, Ino pig!" Sakura hissed.

Ino _humph_ed and turned away.

Sakura sighed and stared at the place he had disappeared. "He sure was bothered by how you talked about the movie industry."

Ino rolled her eyes. "Uh, it's called Hollywood, capishe?"

I sighed. That's Ino for you. There was a difference between Hollywood and the movie industry in Konoha. The fact was that Hollywood was a historical place whose streets were made of gold, and celebrities lived there. It was a place where money was an object, and there was always lots of it.

The movie industry on the other hand was where actors and actresses became famous, and where all the work was done. Judging by Neji's scoff, Hollywood wasn't all it was cropped up to be.

Ino slammed her hand down on the table as she always does to get everyone's attention.

"Guys," She announced. "Tomorrow we are going to see a movie!"

"Which one?" I asked.

"_The Swing of Things!_" Ino announced.

Naruto, Sasuke and I groaned.

"No, Ino, no!" I moaned. "Not a chick flick!"

"It's not a chick flick! It's about becoming a star though song and dance!"

"Not to mention more romance than is healthy for a sixteen year old..." I muttered.

Naruto and Sasuke laughed at my comment.

"Besides, it's a musical! Haven't I told you how much I despised musicals?" I whined.

Ino flicked her fingers at me. "Lighten up, Tenten."

The bell rang and we took off for our classes.

"Tenten, if you don't want to see the movie I picked, just ask Neji what he would recommend." Ino suggested.

I sighed. "Oh yeah, and get bitten in the ass over it. Neji doesn't like to talk about movies!"

Ino clicked her tongue. "No, he just doesn't like to talk about his career."

Mr. Umino began his lesson. We were starting on algebra now. I love algebra. It's so easy, but it's so hard! Then again, all maths were like that. The fact is, the moment you get it, you feel so proud of yourself and then you want to hold it above your head and shout: I GOT IT! I GOT IT! And when you finally finish ages before everyone else, you want to help them get through it just so you can prove to yourself that: I STILL GOT IT!

When the bell rang, I dashed to drama class. I sat down and waited for Neji. He showed up about a minute later and took his seat beside me.

"Hey," He murmured.

"Hey. Feeling better?" I asked.

He nodded.

I sighed and decided to unload the movie thing on him. "Ino wants to go see a movie tomorrow, and I don't like her choice."

Neji closed his eyes for a second as if he was debating whether to answer or not. He opened them again.

"Which one?" He asked.

"_The Swing of Things_." I replied grimly.

"That one actually isn't bad."

THAT surprised me.

"W-What?" I cried.

Neji smirked and looked at me. "The previews make it look like a musical, but it really isn't. It's a lot like that TV show _Glee._"

"Okay, do explain." I growled.

"It's basically about this dance group. Their 'leader' as I have no idea-"

"Choreographer?" I asked.

"Yes! Thank you." Neji laughed. "Their choreographer gets in this horrible accident and ends up paralyzed from the waist down and has to quit their job, so a new one comes in and takes over and leads the dance group to fame."

"Wow..." I murmured. "Wait, how do you know that?"

"My cousin is in it."

"Oh." I didn't have much else to say after that.

Drama class was mostly uneventful. We moved onto tableaux. But first, Miss. Yuhi ordered us to write our philosophies of love and life on a piece of paper. We would then pick one to use in our skit where we would all sit in tableaux except for the person who is giving their philosophy on love or life.

Neji nudged me with his elbow. I looked at him.

"Life is like a box of chocolates," He quoted Forrest Gump.

I laughed. "You never know what you're gonna get." I said with him. We laughed for a few seconds.

"Do you remember your first pair of shoes? I remember my first pair of shoes." Neji continued quoting

I was now killing myself laughing.

"My momma said 'they was my magic shoes'."

"Stop it!" I laughed.

Neji continued laughing behind his hand.

"How many movies can you quote?" I asked.

Neji chuckled. "Don't make me start."

"I can quote _Finding Nemo_." I claimed.

"Do it." Neji told me.

I cleared my throat. I was going to do the shark scene.

"Hello," I quoted. "My name is BRUCE!"

Neji laughed.

"So right I understand...why trust a shark right?" I made a gnashing motion with my hand and laughed. "So...what are a couple of bites like you doing in the silent night?" I changed my voice. "Nothing! We're not doing anything! We're not even out! GREAT! Then how'd you morsels like to come...to a little get together on heaven? You mean like a party? Yeah, yeah right...A PARTY haha...what'dya say? Oooh, I love parties! That sounds like fun! I know, parties are fun and it's tempting- Aw come on, I insist! Okay! That's all that matters."

"Oh my lord!" Neji cried.

"Hey look! Balloons! It is a party! Hahaha, mind your distance though. Those balloons can be a bit touchy! You wouldn't want one of them to pop...oh there you are Bruce finally. We've got company. We've already had snacks and I'm still starving! Come on let's get this over with..."

Neji was sniggering.

"Ding! All right, now the meeting has officially come to order. Let us all say the pledge. I am a shark. Not a mindless eating machine. If I am to change this image, I must first change myself. Fish are friends. Not food. Except stinking dolphins! Oh yeah they think they're so cute, look at me I'm a flipping little dolphin let me flip for you-"

"Stop, stop, stop." Neji laughed. "You can probably keep going, but you're going to get through the whole movie by the time I cover your mouth with duct tape."

I laughed.

The bell rang after another five minutes. Quoting movies with Neji was about as fun as paintball. I think...I've never played paintball before so...

"Tenten!" Ino called as I entered the cafeteria.

I sat down beside her as usual.

"So, did Neji recommend a movie?" Ino asked.

"No, he told me that your movie was a good choice." I said with a shrug.

"Oh really?" She asked.

"He even summarized it for me!" I laughed. I started on my lunch. Neji walked in a few minutes later followed by Sasuke and Naruto.

"I heard your movie quote war." Naruto laughed at me.

I shrugged. "Hey, we both won."

"How did that start by the way?" Sasuke asked.

"My momma always said: life is like a box of chocolates." Neji quoted again.

I laughed because he got the accent just right.

"Oh." Sasuke snorted. "All right, I get it now. Love and life philosophies."

"Oooh, what's your philosophy on love, Sasuke?" Sakura asked.

Sasuke shrugged. "I don't know."

"Hmm..." Ino murmured. "Quote something good!" She encouraged.

"What would qualify as good?" I asked.

Ino smirked. "Quote _Twilight!_"

"Oh hell no." I grumbled.

Neji chuckled. "I can only quote the preview, but that's only because I've seen it a million times."

"Do it." Ino encouraged.

Neji rolled his eyes. "Heck no. There are so many other movies out there that are better. Forget it."

"Ooooh, _Twilight_ just got burned." Naruto laughed.

I faintly heard Neji mutter something about twisted physics and I burst out laughing. Everyone looked at me. I kept laughing. Nobody would let _Twilight _live that part down. The part where James and Bella are 'fighting' and James jumps over her head and defies the most basic law of gravity: What goes up, must come down, instead, flying totally parallel to the ground, then going straight up and finally back down again. Nobody should make using strings so obvious.

"Quote Pirates of the Caribbean!" Sakura prodded.

Sasuke looked horrified. "No! NONONO! My older brother used to do that!"

We laughed at him.

"He would walk around the house singing about a jar of dirt. You know what the worst part was? He was freaking seventeen!"

Our table exploded with uncontrollable laughter. None of us had met Sasuke's brother before.

"How old is he now?" Sakura asked.

Sasuke shrugged. "Twenty-two I think. I stopped counting when he moved out three or four years ago. He's already gotten himself a high end job as far as I know."

"In what?" Ino asked.

"Computer graphics." Sasuke replied. "He's really good at it. He's been doing it since before he even left elementary school. He got a full scholarship to a specialty university and graduated in two years."

"Wow!" I cried. "Is he that good?"

Sasuke nodded. "I think he has a job in the movie industry, but he hasn't said much about it. All my family knows is that he's got a really good job somewhere and he's getting paid like...sixty bucks an hour just to do his computer graphics."

"Holy bloody hell!" Naruto cried.

Ino looked at Neji excitedly. "Hey, Neji do you know him?"

Neji kind of just sat there for a few seconds eating a sandwich and pretending he hadn't heard.

"Who?" He asked finally.

"Uh..." Ino looked at Sasuke.

"Itachi Uchiha." Sasuke stated.

Neji suddenly broke into a coughing fit. We watched him warily. In the end he was forced to grab a napkin and spit the sandwich into it to stop his coughing. He then took a long drink of water before putting it down again. He steadied his breathing and looked at Sasuke.

"HE'S your brother?" Neji asked.

"So you know him?" Sasuke asked.

"Heck yes!" Neji cried. "He's a freaking legend!"

Sasuke raised his eyebrows. "A legend? That's a new one."

"Companies are trying to get him on their team constantly; some of them offering to pay him hundreds of dollars a day just go have him do their CGI."

"You're kidding!" Sasuke cried. "Then he's been lying about making sixty dollars an hour?"

Neji shrugged. "I did say 'offering'. It's just whether he takes it or not."

"Have you met him?" Sakura asked.

Neji nodded. "He's done the CGI for two of the movies I was in..."

Everyone was silent. Neji had just said something about his acting career. Something he had been avoiding for the last three days.

Sasuke suddenly chuckled. Everyone shot him a look.

"I remember how he learned how to do lifelike computer graphics." Sasuke was smirking and shaking his head. "I would watch him break windows on a high speed camera then replicate it using the computer. Mom wasn't too happy."

We laughed. Especially Neji.

"Oh yeah...He does that." Neji chuckled. "He breaks things to see how they fall apart in real life."

Sasuke snorted. "Mom almost had a heart attack when he started blowing stuff up while he was in university. And then he made that non dairy creamer cannon as shown in _The Mythbusters_ and blew it up."

"What part of 'do not try this at home' does he not understand?" I cried.

Sasuke shook his head. "I don't know. But he's an expert now, so I wouldn't worry about him."

"Can we meet him someday, Sasuke?" Ino asked.

Sasuke shrugged. "He's coming home in a week, so I guess you can."

There wasn't much else we chattered on about. Ino asked us again if we wanted to see _The Swing of Things_ and Naruto and Sasuke finally agreed with a lot of grumbling. The bell rang, and Neji, Sasuke, Naruto and I took off for English class. We read some short stories in English class, and answered, sigh, more questions.

When the bell rang, Neji and I took off for Gym class.

"Do you think we'll be pitted against each other again?" Neji asked.

"Maybe." I murmured. I was a little out of it since I had been spacing out for the last five minutes of English class.

Indeed, we were pitted against each other again. We played European Handball (1). The boys and girls were divided into two teams each and pitted against each other one by one. One thing I can't stand about playing on an all girls team is how they're scared of the ball. They DUCK for crying out loud. They have to be like Ino always worrying about their hair and such. I shook it off. I shouldn't be so bitter, but I couldn't help it. I dreaded playing this game with the girls.

However when we finally got onto the court, I realized it was exactly the opposite of what I had assumed. They were right in the game. All right! Now THIS is real girl power! Wow...I am so cheesy...

Did I mention we actually WON? Anko was so proud of us. But the thing was, guys tend to underestimate girls more often than not. We were right in the game, shoving them out of the way when we could while they just stood there dumbfounded by our aggression. Especially Sakura and I. We were downright aggressive when it came to sports. I never missed the net, and Sakura never missed a pass, or a catch unless it was a really bad throw and it got knocked away.

But that wasn't the happiest part: It was FRIDAY! I know...three day school week...but that's because Monday didn't count (still summer holidays), and we had a PA Day on Tuesday! Tomorrow, we hit the movies.

**A/N: So? How'd you like it? Every time I start writing this story, I get two songs stuck in my head at different times. **_**Perfect**_** by Hedley, and **_**Perfect**_** by Simple Plan. XD It's ANNOYING! XD Hedley: **_**I'm not perfect, but I keep trying**_**. Then in walks Simple Plan: **_**I'm sorry, I can't be, perfect**_**. XD.**

**(1)For those of you who don't know what European Handball is, it's basically like soccer, only you use your hands. There are two nets positioned on either end of the gym like hockey, and they have goal keepers, like hockey. Basically, like ultimate Frisbee, you have to throw the ball (it's a dodge ball) Up the court and throw it in the net. However, like Boing, there is a key that you can't step in. If you step in the key, the goal won't count, so you have to shoot outside the key. If you drop the ball, it is automatically the opposing teams ball. In a nutshell, that's European Handball. I don't know why it's called that, but I'm guessing it was developed in Europe. I don't know.**


	5. Chapter 5: Movies and Mayhem

**A/N: I wish I could've come up with a better name for **_**The Swing of Things**_**. It sounds cheesy XD. If you want to make a story out of it, go ahead. Do whatever. It's just a movie in the middle of a story. I'm never going to write it myself (Dancing's not my thing) so any takers? XD**

Chapter 5: Movies and Mayhem

At the end of the day yesterday, we had agreed to meet at the movie theatre for the 10:30 showing so we could see the movie for six dollars a ticket. The fact is, if we went to a movie before noon on Saturdays, we saw it for six dollars.

I was there at ten. Surprisingly, Neji was already there as well.

"Hey!" I called.

"Hey," He greeted in a monotone.

I frowned. "Is there something wrong?"

Neji sighed. "This is the first time I've been out in public except for school."

I blinked a few times. "Wow. No wonder nobody's found you yet."

Neji gave a dull chuckle.

"HEY GUYS!"

"Shut up Naruto!"

I laughed and looked towards Sasuke and Naruto who were approaching. A few minutes later, Ino and Sakura arrived, and we went inside and bought our tickets individually. Some of us hit the snack stand, unfortunately I was in that group, before heading in with our treats.

We chattered endlessly in the very back row until Neji did something I never thought I'd see him do. He stole one of Naruto's gummy bears, licked it and stuck it on the glass panel that separated us from the projector. Most of us laughed ourselves to the point of pure insanity. When Neji regained his bearings (no pun intended) he flipped the gummy bear onto the floor.

"That was bold." I said to him.

He snorted. "I've always wanted to do that."

"You're lucky you didn't get us thrown out!" Ino hissed.

Neji flipped his hand at her a couple of times.

Sasuke looked at Neji sideways. "My brother does that."

Neji chuckled. "Yeah I accidently picked it up from him."

"He jabs people in the forehead as well." Sasuke murmured.

"I haven't seen him do that." Neji pushed his hair out of his face.

After another ten minutes, the theatre was half full and the previews began.

"My second favourite part of any movie." Neji murmured.

"The previews?" I cried. "What's your favourite part?"

Neji looked at me. "The bloopers."

I had to fight to not laugh. The bloopers were the best part. That much you had to admit. The previews were pretty awesome as well though. I understood where his logic was in it all. The preview is often better than the movie itself, and the bloopers of the movie were hilarious even if the movie wasn't meant to be funny.

We watched the previews and finally the movie started. I vowed to myself that I wouldn't talk too much during the movie. I immediately set my sights on trying to spot Neji's cousin.

The movie began with a simple introduction, a female voice narrating.

_In hard times, you have to have hope. Hope that things will work out in the end..._

I couldn't help it. I just had to ask. I nudged Neji. He looked at me.

"Is that your cousin speaking?" I asked.

Neji blinked a few times then nodded once.

I looked back to the screen listening to Neji's cousin's voice. It was a pleasant voice to listen to. The scene eventually went into a dance studio where they were choreographing a complex dance. I had a feeling that the teacher was the one who was going to get hurt. I loved how they helped you get to know her at the beginning as well. You immediately began to get a soft spot for the dancers and the teacher. All was harmony. I even spotted who I thought was Neji's cousin. She had the same white eyes as Neji, so I just made an assumption. I didn't feel like asking at that particular moment. She played the lead female dancer whose name was Holly as far as I knew.

Another ten minutes of movie later, and the tragedy occurred. What an awful car crash it was too. It was a head on collision with a drunk driver. It showed the panic that the kids in the dance group had throughout the tragedy.

The new teacher came in and was immediately met with hostility. The students were barking things at the new teacher every which way saying how she has it all wrong, Mrs. Keen would do it like this, such and such. My mind isn't doing a very good job at explaining the movie, but the movie is doing a very good job at explaining itself. It was brilliantly written as far as I could see, all from Holly's point of view. You really got a feel for her with her life being a struggle as she juggled school, dance, chores and her boyfriend, Mike.

The news of Mrs. Keen's fate was told a good forty-five minutes into the movie. The teacher that had been a replacement up to that point became permanent. It was another fifteen minutes of mayhem while the students continued to annoy the hell out of their new teacher Miss. Hunter. On the hour, in came Mrs. Keen in her wheelchair to give a motivational speech.

"_Though I may be retired, that does not give you children the right to act this way!"_

_The dance class was dead silent._

"_You all have talent, and there's no hope in me coming back, so you know what? I want you all to get up, and keep going for me. That way, I'll know I did something right. Make me proud."_

Miss. Hunter was able to teach her new dance class, Mrs. Keen watching from the sides from time to time. I smiled when I saw the group dancing and singing on stage. Over the next hour, the dance group would go up through the ranks until it reached the top. In between dance, it would follow Holly's personal life from quarrels with her parents, to boyfriend troubles.

One of them was so horrible it made me want to throw popcorn at the screen in fury. Mike was annoyed that Holly spent more time at the dance studio than she did with him and forced her to chose between him and dancing, both she loved very much. She had run away crying. My heart went out to poor Holly, and I just wanted to hug her. Neji's cousin was an incredible actress. She went to Mrs. Keen for help which was surprising. Normally you'd trust your parents before another adult, but even then you'd go for your friends first.

Mrs. Keen had frowned at Holly when she told her story.

"_Holly, if a boy is forcing you to make a decision like that then you have to question him before you question yourself."_

Mrs. Keen went on listening to Holly and offering feedback and such. Eventually, she said something that tightened a knot deep in my heart, and I knew at that instant it would stick with me for the rest of eternity.

"_Holly, if he truly loves you, he would understand that dance is important to you. From what you told me, it sounds like he wants you to himself. It's your choice of what you want to do, but don't make a choice you'll regret."_

It was another few minutes with Holly dancing and then finally encountering Mike again who asks her to choose again. Holly practically repeated exactly what Mrs. Keen said to her. Mike insisted that he loved her, and that he only wanted to spend more time with her.

"_If you don't accept the fact that I'm a part of that dance group, and force me to choose between you and dance, then we're through!"_

Holly left Mike dumbfounded.

The finals of the competition arrived, and the group danced their hearts out. Just as everyone would predict, they won. Mrs. Keen was crying, and Holly had her own happy ending.

As it turned out, Mike had showed up at the contest to watch and congratulated on their victory and apologized for being such a jerk. It was a happy ending with sugar on top.

"That was not what I expected!" Ino cried when the movie was over. "But it was still soooo good!"

Even Naruto and Sasuke looked satisfied.

We chattered on about the movie as we walked down the street to a park. There we sat on a picnic table to chill out and debate the movie.

"Neji! Were you in that movie?" Sakura cried all of a sudden.

Neji shook his head. "That was my cousin."

"Hmm...Acting runs in the family, does it?" Ino asked.

Neji's eyes narrowed slightly. I knew at that moment that something wasn't right.

"Yes." He said stiffly.

"Your cousin seems like a nice person!" Naruto piped up. "You should introduce us some time."

Neji twitched. "Not happening."

"Aw, why not?" Ino asked.

Neji's fist was clenched in his lap, and he was glaring at the picnic table as if waiting for it to burst into flames.

"Guys, drop it." I ordered. They did.

We chattered on about miscellaneous things for the next half hour.

"Hey...there's someone staring at our table..." Sakura said suddenly.

Naruto and Sasuke, who were on the same side as her, looked where she was looking and Ino and I turned around...

.oOo.

Neji could feel his presence. He didn't need to turn around. All he could think was that he had finally found him.

"What does said person look like?" Neji asked, trying to confirm it.

"He's a man with long brown hair..." Sakura murmured.

"Look away." He ordered. "Talk about something irrelevant, and pretend I'm just a part of your group."

"You are part of our group!" Tenten protested.

"Shh!" Neji hissed. "Pretend he's not there."

"It's hard not to when you're making such a big deal about it." Ino pointed out.

"What if I told you that me sticking around here counts on the fact that you ignore him right now?" He growled.

All heads snapped back to the picnic table.

"So," Sasuke began. "Anything new over the last twenty four hours, other than the movie we just saw?"

"Well," Tenten began. "I finally finished that thousand piece puzzle last night!" she said triumphantly, throwing her arms in the air.

"Wow! Good job Tennie-chan!" Sakura cried, holding up her hand for a high five. Tenten slapped her hand on Sakura's.

Ino sighed. "My sister's been stealing my makeup again!" she whined.

"How old is she?" Naruto asked.

"Ugh! She's six! She keeps stealing my makeup and putting it on her Barbie dolls!"

"How did you get a six year old sister?" Naruto laughed.

"Ugh, my dad remarried after he broke up with my mom eight years ago."

"Why did you go with your dad?" Naruto asked.

Ino sighed. "Because I liked my dad more than my mom, that's why."

Sakura's head suddenly went up, Sasuke and Naruto's head followed.

"Hello there,"

Oh god that voice made Neji want to curl up and die...

"Um...hi?" Naruto said curiously, raising an eyebrow.

Neji could feel Hiashi's eyes boring into my back.

"I know that's you, Neji." Hiashi growled. "If a stranger approaches a table, it is a natural reaction for all occupants to look at the newcomer. You didn't do that, because you knew it was me and tried to hide."

Annoyed to the point where he just wanted to scream and run like hell while pulling on my hair, Neji turned around and death glared his uncle.

"Go away." He spat.

"Relax, I'm just trying to come to an agreement."

"Not interested."

Hiashi smiled and shook his head. Neji HATED this gesture with a passion. It made him want to punch his lights out.

"Neji, Neji, Neji."

He hated that even more. Neji's hands balled into fists, and every muscle in his body contracted as if to lash out. Sheer willpower held his arms at my sides.

"Why are you so defiant?"

"Why so serious?" Neji randomly quoted. He didn't even like _The Dark Knight_, but the quote fit the situation.

Hiashi smirked. "Everyone wants you to come back."

"Yeah, so I can work on that stupid movie." Neji muttered. "Can't you just leave me alone?"

Hiashi sighed. "No. I can't. I'm your uncle, your agent, and your caregiver. I can't leave you to wander the streets, hopelessly searching for somewhere else to go other than back where you belong!"

"Well I'm not going back!" He cried. "Get that through your thick skull!"

"Neji!"

_Fuck it_, Neji thought. He jumped onto the picnic table and jumped between Sasuke and Naruto. He landed on the ground and took off running. He wasn't going to put up with this garbage in front of his friends. Neji smiled. He had never been able to use that word before.

.oOo.

**Tenten's P.O.V.**

I watched Neji take off with shock. He could run! But that didn't mean that the man, his uncle I'm guessing by what he had said earlier, was hot on his heel.

"Let's help Neji." Naruto suggested.

We all nodded and took off after Neji and his uncle. As we ran, Neji's uncle caught up to him and grabbed onto his arm. Neji was fighting to get free, but his uncle knew how to grip. He had Neji by both of his wrists. The look on Neji's face was horrifying. Anger and helplessness all blended together to create a heartbreaking blend of emotions.

"...running away anymore, Neji!" his uncle roared.

"Let go of me!" Neji kept screaming while he attempted to pull away.

"Let go of him!" We all screamed in perfect sync. Funny how it always works out like that.

Neji looked at us, his face just screaming two words: Help me.

His uncle meanwhile looked at us with fury.

"This does not concern you! Leave now!" He growled.

Neji continued to struggle, attempting to kick his uncle in close quarters. It wasn't working. Tenten realized with a pang that Neji couldn't use his knees either, because his uncle was also far enough away that he couldn't use his knees. And those strong grips on his wrists weren't helping one bit.

"Oh lord..." Sakura whispered. "His uncle knows what he's doing..."

We all shot looks at Sakura.

"Can't you tell?" Sakura whispered. "He knows exactly how to move so Neji can't hurt him..."

We all snapped looks back to Neji and his uncle. I understood perfectly what Sakura was talking about. This wasn't the first time Neji's been pinned by his uncle like this. In fact, Neji's uncle probably had pinned him many times prior to this, so that no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't escape from it. Because his uncle had learned how to keep him there.

Fury bit my chest, and judging by the movements of the others, the same thing went for them.

Neji unleashed another round of attempted escapes. His uncle held on. Neji looked like he was on the verge of tears.

"Let go..." He gasped. "I don't want to go back!"

"Oh, you're going back, Neji."

"Hiashi!" A voice called.

Neji's helpless face turned to pure distress at the sound of the new voice. It was a man in a business suit.

"I'm glad you found him." The man stated.

Hiashi looked at Neji again. "Let's go."

"No!" Neji growled. He continued to fight.

Hiashi looked at the business man again. The man nodded grimly and reached behind him. I saw something black in his hand, and one thought came to my mind at that moment.

_Stun gun._

"Hell no!" I cried. In half a second flat, my fist had slammed into the man's gut, and my muscles contracted as the electricity from the stun gun shot through me. I hit the ground immediately and lay there twitching.

"Tenten!" Neji's voice was faint. Everything was faint. All I could hear was my heart beating erratically as my body tried to regain order from the jolt...

.oOo.

When Tenten had dropped to the ground from the effects of the stun gun, the rest of the group had reacted in pure fury. Sasuke and Sakura jumped the man with the stun gun to stop him from using it on Neji, and Ino and Naruto had gone to aid Neji.

A single girl watched from the back of a black limousine in horror. She had to stop this...

Hinata Hyuuga leapt from the vehicle and tore off for the fight scene...

"Father stop!" She cried.

Hiashi looked up at her with shock.

"Hinata! Return to the limo!" He ordered.

"No!" Hinata cried. "Stop this! This is foolish!"

Hinata could feel everyone's eyes on her. It would've been funny if it weren't so serious. Shino, the security guard, was being held by a pink haired girl and a boy with raven hair. They were standing dead still with dumbfounded looks on their faces. Hiashi was still holding Neji in his iron grip having no care in the world in regards to the blonde boy with a handful of hair in his fist. Neji didn't seem to care that Hiashi still had a grip on him, and that a blonde haired girl had her arms around him, as she had been trying to pull him away from Hiashi, judging by the look of shock on his face. A girl lay on the ground, still twitching slightly.

It was painful for Hinata to see this. She immediately walked over to Shino and pried the pink haired girl's arms off of him as well as the raven haired boy's and pushed them apart. She turned towards the second group, pulled the blonde girl's arms off of Neji and pushed her away before grabbing Hiashi's hands and prying them off Neji's wrists. Neji backed away and began to rub the circulation back into his wrists and hands.

Hinata grabbed the blond boys' hands and pulled them out of Hiashi's hair before shoving them apart as well.

"Why does everything have to be solved with a fight?" Hinata asked. Everyone looked at the ground, ashamed of themselves.

The pink haired girl and the blonde girl helped the brown haired girl off the ground.

"Why can't we just talk this out instead of raising our fists at each other?" She asked, mostly to Hiashi.

Hiashi grumbled. "This isn't the place to be talking something out."

"Oh, and it's the place where you can beat up on each other?"

Hiashi buzzed his lips. "Fine. We'll talk this out back at the studio."

"Heck no!" Neji cried. "I'm not going back there!"

Hinata looked at Hiashi. "You have to promise not to keep Neji there!" She ordered.

Hiashi looked pissed. "Hinata, we're supposed to be settling this!"

"You want to settle it by _forcing_ Neji to return! You have to let Neji stay on his own choice!"

"Gah, all right, all right!" Hiashi cried.

Hinata smiled at him.

Hiashi looked irritated.

Hinata continued to smile. She always won when it comes to a battle of words.


	6. Chapter 6: Talking it Out

**A/N: This chapter is dedicated to SparkDazzleDuez, DarkAngel2098, Rixclassa, Aslicain Kiant, Katarina Wolffe, and one other reviewer that I can't remember because I accidently deleted the e-mail containing said review, and couldn't find it in the 'junk' pile. GOMEN!**

**Here's the next chapter!**

Chapter 6: Talking it Out

Hiashi started off for the limo. Neji hesitated before following his uncle to the limo. The girl with blue hair looked at us for a few seconds before following.

"Let's go." Naruto growled.

We followed Naruto's lead and followed them to the limo. Halfway there, I regained control of my muscles to a degree and began to walk on my own.

Neji turned and saw us when he neared the limo.

"Why are you following?" He asked.

"You're our friend, Neji." I told him. "Whatever concerns you concerns us as well."

"Well you're not-"

Hiashi was cut off with a slice of the blue haired girl's palm. For someone so cute, she sure held power.

"Neji? Will you let them come?" The girl asked.

Neji stared us down for a few seconds. Then he nodded once before crawling inside the car. Hiashi went in afterwards followed by the girl. We all crawled in afterwards, taking our seats around the dimly lit limo.

Ino couldn't stop looking around with her mouth open.

"Pig!" Sakura hissed. "Quit ogling!"

"Shut up, forehead!" Ino hissed. "Can't you see I'm in heaven?"

I gazed out the window at the buildings rushing by. Eventually we turned into the high end area of Konoha. This was our Hollywood. I couldn't help but gawk now too. It was absolutely amazing! The houses were beautiful, everything was beautiful!

It was perfect. There was no other word for it. I closed my eyes and imagined myself living in one of those houses...sleeping in, swimming in a gargantuan pool in the backyard, living the day away knowing that everyone loved me because I was on television...I was perfect...

But...I opened my eyes and here I was. Tenten. Average. Loser. Meatball head...

"Are you all right, Tennie?" Sakura asked.

I nodded slowly. Now I wish I had never come here where life was so perfect...because I was so not perfect...

.oOo.

My state of depression continued, and by the time we arrived at some huge building it had sunk down to my bones and refused to leave. I felt like crying. Everyone piled out except for me.

I felt a hand on my shoulder and looked up at Neji's pale eyes. He leaned over and my heart leapt.

"Trust me." His hot breath tickled my ear. "It's not what it looks like." Then he was gone. I sat there for a stunned second before crawling out after them.

We walked into that beautiful glass fronted building, craning our heads to see the top. Inside was grander than the outside. There were fountains inside the place. Marble floors, expensive paintings, beautiful plants, they were everywhere.

I tried to hold on to what Neji had told me, but it was so hard! Everything was so amazing! It was perfect no matter how you look at it!

"Neji!" everyone greeted with surprise. "Glad you're back!"

"I'm not back!" Neji growled at them.

They still persisted that he was back. I pitied him. Then again, Neji was a great actor, so they had a right to be hopeful that he was back.

We were lead into an elevator where we ended up on the very top floor. We stepped out onto a balcony.

"Wow!" Ino gasped. "It's amazing!"

Nobody gave any responses other than to admire the view of Konoha's Hollywood before trudging up another set of stairs to the very top of the roof. That wasn't the end of it. Instead of taking our seats around the roof, we walked into a private chamber and sat down on several couches.

To my dismay, Hiashi pulled the curtains so we couldn't see out the full glass walls before sitting down. We sat in silence for a few seconds.

"Neji, why did you leave?" Hiashi asked, breaking the silence.

"I told you why. I wanted to live a normal life for once in a lifetime." Neji replied dully.

Hiashi looked like this wasn't the answer he was looking for.

"You complained about the script...you complained about your part-"

"That movie was the last straw." Neji growled. "I refuse to act in something so...juvenile."

Hiashi pinched his nose. "We're still trying to find your style. You know that. You've been in an action, a fantasy, and a sci-fi. We tried to put you into a comedy romance, and you-"

"You seriously think that movie was funny?" Neji asked incredulously.

Hiashi looked at Neji. "It was labelled as a comedy, so I should think it was a comedy."

"You didn't even read the script before you threw me into the movie, did you?" Neji asked.

Hiashi's ears turned pink. I smirked. Neji got him.

Neji scoffed. "Bastard." He looked at the wall.

"Excuse me?" Hiashi stood up.

"Father!" The blue haired girl cried, standing up as well.

"Sit down, Hinata!" Hiashi barked.

Hinata flinched.

Hiashi turned his fury back on Neji. "You know very well that the movie you were requested in was a parody!"

"You said it was a comedy, but yes I knew it was a parody, and a very bad one at that!"

"You disrespectful little..."

"Father! Please!"

Hiashi pointed his finger at Neji. "You're lucky I even keep you in this industry!"

"Go ahead! Fire me!" Neji stood up. "I want out anyway! I've been nothing but your little money maker for the last ten years! I'll have no more of it!"

Hiashi's hand flew towards Neji. Neji ducked and Hiashi lunged for him.

"STOP IT!" Hinata screamed.

It was futile. Hiashi had seen red and nothing was going to stop him from inflicting pain on Neji.

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" A sharp, powerful male voice cut through the air. All heads turned towards the new arrival that was standing in the door. In an instant, I took in the wolf coloured hair, dark onyx eyes, and firm jaw line. I knew instantly that whoever this man was, he was a natural born leader. With just his voice, he stopped the battle in his tracks.

"You stay out of this!" Hiashi barked at the man. "This isn't your fight! Get lost!"

The man defiantly took another step in the door and closed it behind him.

"Are you going to make me?" The man stared menacingly at Hiashi. I shivered when I looked at the man's face. If I was the one this man was glaring at, I would've turned and run.

Hiashi stepped with purposeful strides towards the man who didn't move an inch, even when their noses were less than an inch apart.

"I can get you fired, Uchiha, how would you like that?" Hiashi hissed.

I shot Sasuke a look. Everyone did.

Sasuke gave a curt nod. _That's my brother_.

"It would be a blessing if you fired me, Hyuuga. I'm sick of you throwing your weight around, and so is everyone else." The Uchiha stated.

Hiashi gave a twisted grin. "Oh? And you don't throw your weight around?"

"I take control when there is no responsible leader." The Uchiha growled.

"You're going to question my discipline?" Hiashi asked.

The Uchiha smirked, though it was more of a grimace. "You call beating your nephew to a bloody pulp discipline?" The Uchiha seemed to lean over Hiashi as his voice lowered to almost nothing. "No wonder he ran away."

Hiashi grabbed the front of the Uchiha's shirt and attempted to ram him against the wall. It took less than a second. The Uchiha's unattended hands whipped up and he slammed his elbows down onto Hiashi's arms, forcing him to let go. With a fierce cry, the Uchiha spun just slightly and his leg came out, the flat of his foot delivering a sharp kick to Hiashi's chest. Hiashi fell backwards onto the ground.

Hiashi pointed up at Itachi. "You! They have a security camera in here! You'll be fired!"

The Uchiha shook his head. "I acted in self defence." He crossed his arms and looked at Neji who was still stunned from the intrusion. "And I'm glad I showed up when I did."

Neji nodded. "Thanks Itachi."

"You're welcome."

"Hello, nii-san."

"Hello, Sasu-SASUKE?" Itachi did a double take.

Sasuke laughed.

Itachi scratched his head with a dumbfounded look on his face. "What the hell is going on here?" He murmured.

"It's a long story." Sasuke said with a shrug.

"I see..." Itachi murmured.

Hiashi stood back up again, his face red with anger.

"Now..." Itachi murmured, not sitting down. "Would you mind telling me what happened before I got here?"

"Mind your own bloody business, Uchiha!" Hiashi spat.

"Shut your bloody mouth, Hyuuga." Itachi said in a monotone.

Hiashi seemed to get redder.

"So, what happened?" Itachi said again.

"He found me and tried to drag me back here by force." Neji gestured to us. "They tried to stop him, and Hinata stopped the battle. We all came back here to try to talk it out, but when I tried to talk it out, Hiashi didn't like my answers-"

"All right. I get it." Itachi stated. "So, why don't we try to talk this issue out again?"

Hiashi shot Neji a look. "Neji, you're coming back."

"No." Neji stated.

"Neji!" Hiashi snarled.

"He doesn't want to go back." Itachi said calmly. "Respect his decision and leave him be."

Hiashi glared at Itachi. Itachi gazed steadily back.

"Stop acting so calm!" Hiashi snarled.

"Stress kills the heart." Itachi murmured. "And working in the movie industry teaches you how to control stress and show patience even when dealing with..." Itachi sighed. "Hopeless...cases."

"Excuse me?"

Itachi looked towards Neji. "Neji, Hiashi wants you back on the set, but I don't care about that. Everybody here wants you back on the set. If you still don't want to come back, fine, but we all want you back here."

"Why?" Neji asked.

"Everybody says you're fun to have around, you're easy to work with, and you don't put up a fuss if something doesn't go your way-"

Hiashi scoffed.

"UNLESS..." Itachi death glared Hiashi. "You have a really big problem with it, and even then you'd be willing to help fix it."

Neji stared at Itachi.

"If you don't believe me, ask around." Itachi raised his hands in surrender.

Neji closed his eyes. The room held its breath. Neji sighed and opened them again.

"I'll come back on three conditions." Neji stated. "One, that he is no longer my agent." Neji pointed at Hiashi.

Hiashi's jaw dropped.

"Two, that I not in that stupid movie he wanted me to be in. I'll pick my own movies from now on."

Hiashi continued to look outraged.

"Three..." Neji closed his eyes again. He opened them. "I still get to stay in the high school I am currently going to."

My heart leapt. He still wanted to stay with us!

"Neji, you can't stop me from being your agent!" Hiashi cried.

Neji narrowed his eyes. "Watch me. You're fired."

Hiashi stood there like an idiot.

Then, Hinata sniggered, followed by a giggle. Soon, the entire room joined in, including me. It was so blunt. It was so easy.

"I think we can manage to get you out of that movie...I read the script to it as well...I couldn't stand it. _Romeo and Juliet _is boring enough without someone messing up Shakespeare's lines."

Neji laughed.

"I mean, Juliet falling off the balcony?" Itachi stared at Neji while the entire room broke out in uncontrollable laughter (minus Hiashi).

"Okay, that was the best joke out of all of them." Neji laughed. "The rest were terrible."

"Except for the bubble juice poison." Itachi stated.

"What?" Neji frowned. "Okay I didn't read the whole thing."

"Instead of poison, Romeo drinks bubble juice and dies hiccoughing bubbles."

"PWAHAHAHAA!"

There goes Sasuke. I think he just lost his nut. Soon, all of us were killing ourselves laughing (minus Hiashi. He was just glaring) at the sound of Sasuke's laugh.

"Those were the only two good jokes." Itachi stated. "The rest were ridiculous."

"What were they?" Sasuke asked.

"Uh, Mercrutio dies because whoever killed him in the story, I think it was Tybalt, threw a squirrel on him and he got rabies."

I snorted. "They made worms meat out of me." I quoted.

"Except he's foaming at the mouth when he says that." Itachi muttered. "But...that's pretty much all I can tell you. The rest is just too inappropriate to come out of my mouth." He rolled his eyes.

"Still G Rated, nii-san?" Sasuke taunted.

"PG actually." Itachi corrected.

Hiashi was up again, ready to defy. "Neji, I don't give a damn what you think! You're staying without those conditions you created!"

Itachi coughed a couple of times during Hiashi's speech, interrupting him. Itachi clearly had a strong dislike of Hiashi.

.oOo.

Ten minutes later, we left the private room and headed downstairs. As it turned out, everyone in the building had been downstairs watching the whole scene on the television screen, complete with sound. Hiashi was practically thrown out of the office, much to his dismay, and Neji was welcomed back. A random person grabbed Neji by the arm and dragged him off to a room. We all ran after him, lead by Itachi. Itachi knew where he was going, and he knew we wanted to follow Neji, so he just led us.

Sasuke seemed freaked out by his brother's actions. I assumed that practically bouncing down the hall while grinning from ear to ear was highly out of character for Itachi.

Eventually we ended up in an enclosed room where said guy was chattering away and Neji was frowning as he tried to understand the man's speed talking. When we walked in, the man turned towards us.

"Itachi! Good timing!" He cried and ran forwards to grab Itachi and drag him into the picture as well. Note to self: This guy was bonkers.

Now Itachi was frowning as he tried to understand what he was saying.

"Okay, stop." Neji ordered. "I can't understand a word you're saying. All I heard was 'movie' and various other words mostly involving 'the', 'its', and 'and'."

Itachi smirked.

"So please...slow down!" Neji requested.

The man took a few deep breaths and lowered his excitement. Then he turned his head and saw us. His excitement shot up another ten notches as he booked it towards us. He looked us over with a critical eye.

"You're PERFECT!" He exclaimed.

"Okay," Neji grumbled. "Listen: it's time you told us just what the hell you want from us."

The man continued his excited rant.

Itachi put up with it for five seconds. "Speak English!" Itachi cried. "Slow down!"

The man blinked a few times before trying to settle his head. It didn't work. He continued babbling.

"Naruto, translation please." Sasuke stated.

Naruto shrugged and stepped forward. Out of the blue he started babbling in the same 'language' as the other idiot. The man blabbed along.

"He says he wants us to be in a movie..." Naruto stated.

The man kept babbling with excitement.

"About a plane crashing down on a desert island..."

The man paused. Then he shrugged.

"I think that's it."

"So why didn't he just come out and say it?" Itachi asked.

"Too excited." The man said in a clear voice. "I babble when I get excited and nervous at the same time."

Neji buzzed his lips. "New director?"

The man nodded vigorously.

"Have you even put the idea through the admin yet?" Neji asked.

You could see the man's sails deflate.

"No..."

"That's what you need to do before you start casting. You have to put the idea through, get a writer to write the script if its accepted, get it checked again by the admin, then start casting if it's approved, rehearse, film, edit..." Neji trailed off realizing he had long run out of fingers on his one hand and hadn't bothered switching to his other hand.

The new director shrugged. "Ah well. I just got that idea and I thought it would work. Sorry to bother you."

.oOo.

I felt kind of bad leaving the young director to his own devices, but hey, I guess he had to learn. Itachi had to take off for his office upstairs, and Neji only stuck around long enough to leave his phone number with instructions that it was futile to call Monday through Friday, as he would be at school.

After that, we hopped back in the limo where we were left at the park we originally were at.

"Okay..." Ino murmured when the limo drove off. "Does that mean...you're an actor again?"

Neji shrugged. "If I get a part, it'll be part time. I'm still in school."

"Sasuke! Your older brother is awesome!" Naruto cried.

Sasuke chuckled. "I don't think he was in his right mind today...He's normally not that talkative." His brow furrowed. "Or enthusiastic..." Sasuke frowned. "All right, NOW I'm suspicious..."

Sakura giggled. "Why?"

Sasuke continued to hold his frown. "I don't know..."

We laughed.

"I think he was just having a good day at work." Neji murmured.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Seriously?"

Neji shrugged. "Whenever he's having fun with something he grins and laughs like a maniac. Sometimes he even skips. It's kind of frightening, but you get used to it."

Sasuke looked like he was going to faint. "M-My brother...doesn't laugh...and he sure as hell...doesn't skip..."

Neji laughed at him.

Sasuke sat down looking absolutely horrified.

**A/N: XD. Itachi OOC moments. I can't help but make Itachi just a little bit insane in the stories I put him in. XD It's just so fun making him...FUN! XD I can't make him monotone and boring no matter how hard I try. I can't make him all business, and I can't make him the way he is in the anime. It's too BORING! :P Bear with Itachi's OOCness? I know Neji's very OOC as well, but I like making him happy as well. As for Sasuke...I like having him overly dramatic. It makes it fun to torture him that way :).**

**Make the Naruto world a better place: One story at a time**

**Sorry It took so long to update this. If you looked on my profile you would've seen under the **_**Perfect**_** section, I wrote "Processing Data". Now that I've found my inspiration for this chapter, I can continue this story, post this chapter, and stick to the original description as well. I have a plot for some evilness to occur. If you've read **_**The Fifth Element**_** you'll know what I am capeable of. I am capable of leaving you hanging until the last minute, I can make you cheer for the characters, I can probably make you cry if I tried hard enough. XD. The reviews say all! So why not leave one now? YOU KNOW I LOVE REVIEWS! :D**


	7. Chapter 7: MSN  Texting  Heaven

**A/N: This is just a short, filler chapter. Bear with me, all right? I like to flesh out my story a little bit.**

Chapter 7: MSN + Texting = Teenage Heaven

Neji was ready to hurl that phone across the room. That had to be the fiftieth time today the thing had rung. Even worse, he had only given them his phone number yesterday. Overnight, Neji collected a grand total of 80 incoming calls, and now that it was midday on Sunday, he was topping 50. Worse, still, he didn't have the cash to pay for his cell phone bills other than to top it off with ten dollars a month with a pay as you go plan.

These suckers wanted a lot more chatting time then he could afford.

The blasted thing rang again. Neji glared at it for a second then picked it up. It was a text message. Texting, he could afford. Neji flipped the phone open. It was from Itachi.

_Sick of all the calls yet? :P_

Neji smirked and began to reply. _You have no idea. I'm already at fifty, and there's no sign of it slowing down. You're there all the time. Why are they calling me?_

He tossed the phone back on his bedside table and stared at the wall of his puny one room apartment. Though he did have over twenty thousand dollars in his bank account, Neji was trying to eke it out as long as he could so he could actually sustain himself and rub it in Hiashi's face saying: See? I can take care of myself!

_He____would probably say something like: In these lowlife conditions?_

Neji's brow furrowed. Yeah. That sounded like him.

The phone rang again. Neji snapped it up. Incoming call. He sighed and put it down again. No sooner than it left his hand, it rang again. Neji lifted it to his face. Text message. He flipped the phone open.

_You wouldn't believe the number of movies that have been backing up after you left. Everyone wants you in their movies, and there isn't anything you can do about it._

Neji put his fingers to the keypad and clicked in his message. _That's not fun. I pity you, Itachi. You've been going through this longer than I have. How did you deal with it?_

It was another series of three incoming calls before Itachi replied.

_If you want the honest truth...I just went and talked to them personally, or talked to them over Skype. After that, I just chose Konoha's movie studios, because I've always loved this place. Then, I ignored everyone else's calls, and they eventually just went away. My lunch break's almost over, so I may not reply if you do. Good luck, and have fun with the phone harassment._

Neji laughed at the last line. Typical Itachi. End a texting conversation with sarcasm. Neji didn't bother replying to Itachi's text. Instead he turned his phone off so it wouldn't bother him anymore and curled up under his covers. It was time to catch up on the sleep he had lost due to the incessant ringing of his cell phone.

.oOo.

Sunday was uneventful. I basically did whatever I always did on Sundays. I did my laundry while chatting on MSN.

_**Ino says: **__Hiii Tennie! 3_

_**Tenten says:**__ Oh hey Ino. Whats up?_

_**Ino says:**__ not much u?_

_**Tenten says:**__ Laundry._

_**Ino says: **__That sucks._

_**Tenten says: **__Someone's gotta do it._

_**Ino says: **__True._

Normally, the conversation between Ino and Tenten would end there, as Tenten didn't have much to chat with Ino about. So, Tenten basically just moved onto Sakura who just signed in.

_**Tenten says: **__Hi Saku-chan!_

_**Sakura says: **__Hello Tennie :) Hows it going?_

_**Tenten says: **__Good but I'm doing laundry :(_

_**Sakura says: **__lol. As always._

The MSN blip echoed through my speakers as Ino spoke up again.

_**Ino says:**__ Tennie, do you mind if I bring Sakura into the convo?_

_**Tenten says:**__ Nope, go ahead!_

_-Sakura has just entered the chat room-_

_**Sakura says:**__ Hi guys!_

_**Ino says: **__Hi Sakura!_

_**Tenten says:**__ Ditto._

_**Sakura says: **__lmfao._

_**Ino says:**__ So...Tennie, have you heard anything about Neji lately?_

_**Tenten: **__No, why?_

_**Ino says: **__You mean, you don't have his e-mail?_

_**Sakura says:**__ lol. Tennie doesn't give her e-mail away that easily._

_**Tenten says: **__Sakura is right. I don't give my e-mail away easily. Besides, there wasn't any time to ask Neji for his e-mail anyway. I don't even know if he has a computer._

_**Ino says: **__:O What are you saying, Tennie? Of course he has a computer! He's an actor! He's probably totally rich!_

_**Sakura says:**__ Well, you'd never know until you ask, right?_

_**Tenten says:**__ Hmm, I'll ask later. Just not now. He's probably sooo busy right now._

_**Ino says:**__ You mean you can contact him like...NOW? Have I missed something?_

_**Tenten says:**__ lol. No I can't contact him. I meant that even if I could, he's probably busy anyway._

_**Sakura says:**__ That's true. He did just get back into the movie industry..._

_**Ino says:**__ I'm sooo jealous! I want to be in a movie someday!_

_**Tenten says:**__ Ino, you want everything fast and easy. It's your own fault for not taking Drama class._

_**Ino says:**__ You shouldn't need to take Drama class to become a star!_

_**Tenten says: **__What good is getting into a movie if you don't even have the experience to act?_

_**Ino says: **__Pfff, it's called Natural Talent._

_**Tenten says: **__Do you have said 'Natural Talent'?_

_**Ino says: **__I so do!_

_**Sakura says:**__ You guys are hilarious. XD_

_**Ino says: **__Be quiet, Sakura! I'm trying to prove a point here!_

_**Sakura says: **__I know, but you're still hilarious. Oh hang on! Sasuke-kun wants to join! 3_

_**Ino says: **__Oooh! Bring him in!_

_**Tenten says: **__Hello, I'm right here!_

_**Sakura says: **__He's going to bring Naruto as well._

_**Ino says: **__Great! We'll have our group of five!_

_**Tenten says: **__Yoohoo!_

_**Ino says: **__What's up, Tenten?_

_**Tenten says:**__ Oh nothing, just wanted to get your attention._

_**Sakura says: **__XD LMFAO! _

_-Sasuke just joined the chat room-_

_**Sasuke says: **__Yo._

_**Ino says: **__Hi Sasu-kun!_

_**Tenten says: **__Hi Sasuke._

_**Sakura says: **__Hi Sasuke-kun :)_

_**Sasuke says: **__Sasu-kun? Do not call me that again. Hey Tenten, Hey Sakura._

_**Tenten says:**__ Where's Naruto?_

_**Sasuke says: **__Hang on..._

_-Naruto just joined the chat room-_

_**Naruto says: **__HEY GUYS!_

_**Ino says: **__Hiii Naru-kun!_

_**Sakura says: **__Hello Naruto!_

_**Sasuke says: **__Ino, enough with the nicknames._

_**Tenten says: **__Hi Naruto! And ditto what Sasuke said._

_**Naruto says: **__XD._

_**Tenten says: **__So, Sasuke have you talked to your brother lately?_

_**Sasuke says: **__Nah. Not yet._

_**Ino says: **__When's he coming home again?_

_**Sasuke says: **__This weekend._

_**Sakura says:**__ Can we meet him, Sasuke-kun?_

_**Sasuke says: **__Yeah._

_**Tenten says: **__Why's he coming home?_

_**Sasuke says: **__He's taking two weeks off. So, it's like a little vacation. Besides, I think he said something about giving a presentation on CGI somewhere..._

_**Naruto says: **__That's cool!_

_**Tenten says: **__I'd like to see that._

_**Naruto says: **__Can you get him to take us somewhere so he can blow stuff up for us?_

_**Sasuke says: **__:P maybe._

_**Ino says: **__That would be sooo fun!_

_**Naruto says:**__ Have you seen Itachi blow something up?_

_**Sasuke says: **__No. He usually does it up at one of his friend's dad's bomb ranges._

_**Tenten says: **__Epic. Which friend?_

_**Sasuke says: **__Uh, I think his name is Deidara, but I can't remember. He has quite a few friends who do special effects in movies. I think Deidara does pyrotechnics._

_**Ino says: **__That's SOOO cool! Are we going to meet his friends too?_

_**Sasuke says: **__I dunno. Maybe._

So that was that. Quite possibly we'd be meeting up with Itachi this weekend. And maybe we can get Neji to tag along. That would be twice as fun!

**A/N: Short chapter. It's a filler. Deal with it. Took me half an hour to write XD.**


	8. Chapter 8: Sleepless Nights

**A/N: I'm on a role today! Back to school we go. In the story, I mean XD. I've still got another twelve days until I go back to school :P.**

Chapter 8: Sleepless Nights

I met up with Neji in the school cafeteria. Surprisingly we were the first ones there. However, there was something wrong with Neji. Even I could see that.

"Are you all right, Neji?" I asked.

Neji looked up at me. His normally dazzling white eyes were dull and looked almost grey. The dark circles under his eyes didn't help that image either.

Neji shook his head. "I'm exhausted. My phone's been ringing nonstop for the last twenty four hours. I've barely slept a wink."

"Aw, I'm sorry." I said in pity.

Neji shook his head. "Don't be sorry. It's my own fault for leaving them with my phone number."

"Oh, so they're calling you?"

Neji nodded.

"Good morning!" Ino greeted cheerfully, plopping herself down beside me. "Whoa, you look bushed."

Neji merely blinked wearily.

Soon enough, the rest of the group joined the table. Neji had his head down and wasn't moving. I wondered if he was asleep.

After awhile, the bell rang and Neji hadn't moved an inch.

I tapped his shoulder. "Neji?"

No response.

I sighed. "Go ahead, guys. I'll get him up."

The group nodded and left.

"Neji, come on we have drama class." I shook him slightly. Yeah, I know that originally we had math in the morning, but the thing is, at our school, we have things called 'weeks'. I think it's so we don't get bored. But every week, our classes flip. For example, week one, I have Math, Drama, English, Gym. In week two, I have Drama, Math, Gym, English. Then it goes back to week one again. Does that make sense?

I shook him a little harder. "Neji!" I hissed.

"Hn?" He lifted his head and rubbed his eyes sleepily.

"We have Drama. Let's go." I told him.

He seemed to wake up at this and stood up. People watched us leave. I ignored their stares as we tore off for Drama class.

The first thing Neji did when he went into class was go to the teacher. I don't know what he said, but Miss. Yuhi nodded in understanding and Neji sat down beside me again. He yawned. I resisted the urge to yawn as well.

The bell rang.

"All right," Miss. Yuhi began class. "Today, we will be continuing our tableaux. Who still hasn't written out their philosophies on love and life?"

Most of the class raised their hands.

"All right, I'll give you ten minutes to work on those. After that, I will be explaining the tableaux."

Neji and I pulled out our papers and propped them on our binders.

"Do you have yours, Neji?" I asked.

Neji shook his head.

I sighed and looked at my page. I thought about life. What was life to me? Slowly it began to form in my head. I just didn't know how to put it in words. Finally, I began to write.

_Life is something many people take for granted. They think they'll wake up every morning and know there will be a tomorrow. But can you really be sure? When it comes down to it, I believe that life is something that should be treated with wonder and respect. Live every moment like it's your last, because that's the only way to truly get through life. Smile every second, live with no regrets, keep your bonds strong._

I read it over. It was so cheesy! I did not want to share this with someone.

"Huh...interesting..."

"NEJI!" I cried. "Don't read over my shoulder!"

Neji smirked at me. "Sorry. If it makes you feel better, I'll let you read mine."

"But I never wanted you to read mine." I protested.

Neji sighed. "That doesn't mean I don't feel the same way." Neji took his hands off his paper. "Take it if you want before I change my mind."

I smirked and snatched it off the binder. I watched him for a few seconds before reading it. He did look uncomfortable. Good. That satisfied me. I began to read.

_I believe that life is always what you make of it. Just like a rollercoaster, life hurtles you along a set path giving you thrills, chills, and everything in between._

I looked at Neji. "Do you believe in fate or something?"

Neji looked at me. "No. I believe in destiny."

I looked back down at the writing. "Well, I don't think life is like a rollercoaster." I handed his page back. "If there was a set path to life, I believe it would be a train. In the end, you arrive at the same destination, but the way you go is determined by the knobs you pull along the way to change your route."

Neji gazed at me. "That makes more sense than mine." He scratched his head. "That's actually what I was trying to get at." He laughed.

I looked down at my page and began to think about what love was. I smiled as it came to me faster than the life philosophy.

_Love is something that gives your life meaning. Whether it be friends, family, or an affection for a certain someone, love gives you the strength to go on in life even when things get hard._

I smiled in satisfaction.

Neji looked frustrated.

"Can't think of anything?" I asked.

Neji snorted. "I've never thought about love in a deep way before. I have no idea what it is to me."

Once the ten minutes were up, Miss. Yuhi began explaining what the philosophies were for.

"We're going to do a long tableaux that will be presented to a class if you want. But you guys know what tableaux is now. I want you all to create a set where you will all be posing in representation of what your philosophies are. You guys will be ordered by number through the class and when your time comes, you will do your part and go back into tableaux."

So that was the blunt explanation. A few people groaned in annoyance at the fact they had to tell their philosophies, but soon got over it.

Our numbers were given out in the circle and we did one quick non tableaux run through of the skit. Naruto's made the room kill ourselves laughing.

"Life is like a chocolate bar." He stated simply. "You eat it up, gradually getting to the last piece. Once you're there, you wonder 'where did it all go?' Then you try to savour every last bite until it's gone."

The class applauded at that one. Then Sasuke stepped in to take the stage.

"To me, love is like a pineapple. It's sweet at first then it just gets sour." Sasuke stated bluntly.

The class howled with laughter. Naruto slapped Sasuke on the back.

"I wonder what Sakura would say to that." I whispered to Neji.

Neji laughed. "She'd take it personally. But have you eaten pineapple before?"

I nodded. "Yeah. It is sweet at first, and then in comes the tang."

"It makes you want to take another bite." Neji snorted.

I burst out laughing. If that's what Sasuke was trying to get at, then I'd probably die laughing.

When the bell rang again, I dashed off to math class, still sniggering internally about Sasuke's philosophy on love.

.oOo.

Sakura burst out laughing just like I knew she would. Sasuke merely went pink in the face. It was lunch time.

"A PINEAPPLE?" Sakura cried. She gently punched him repeatedly on the shoulder. "You're so funny, Sasuke-kun!"

"It's true." Sasuke muttered. "It's sweet at first, but it gets sour."

"Then what?" I asked.

Neji snorted and smirked.

Sasuke frowned and looked at me. "What?"

"Then what do you do?" I asked.

He frowned further.

"What do you do when the pineapple gets sour?"

Sasuke shrugged. "I never thought that far."

"You should've." Neji laughed.

"Why?" Sasuke asked.

Neji smirked. "Because when I eat a pineapple, I love it when it gets sour and I just want to take another bite so I can taste it again."

The whole table erupted in laughs. Ino had her head on the table and was clutching her gut. Naruto was slapping the table. Sakura was killing herself laughing while unintentionally leaning against Naruto. Sasuke looked like he was going to faint.

"That was SO not what I was trying to get at!" He cried.

"Whatever you say, Sasuke," Neji laughed. "Whatever you say."

Sakura put her arms around Sasuke. "I love you Sasuke. You're so funny."

"This was what I was trying to get at." He muttered.

"Oh, Sasuke. Don't be mean." Ino laughed.

Sakura let go of Sasuke and continued to eat her lunch with a grin on his face.

"So, Neji, are you always this funny?" Naruto asked.

Neji shrugged. "I make people laugh at times when I'm not trying, so maybe."

"So, are you still tired Neji?" I asked him.

"Not right now. But I will be later." He said simply.

"What happened anyway?" Ino asked.

"Too many phone calls." Neji said simply.

"Ah..." Ino sighed.

We eventually moved on to our next classes. Joy to gym class! We were starting Ultimate Frisbee today. We went outside with a bunch of Frisbees and ran two laps around the track.

.oOo.

Neji couldn't say how many times he cursed in my head today. He wasn't usually one to swear, but when he got agitated, he got a sharp tongue. As Neji ran those two laps Mr. Guy ordered the class to run, he was doing just that. There's just something so soothing about the sound of the 'F' word when you're in a bad mood. Even if you say it in your head.

"NEJI!"

Neji cursed again. Just the wrong person he wanted to hear from. It was Rock Lee. What kind of a name was that anyway? Unbelievably, he idolizes the gym teacher. And by idolize, Neji meant IDOLIZES! Neji wouldn't be surprised if he had a shrine erected in his bedroom dedicated to Mr. Guy.

"What do you want?" Neji asked the bowl haired boy.

"Let us race!"

"Hell no." He spat.

"PLEEEASE?"

"NO!" Neji cried. Not knowing what else to do, he picked up the pace. Rock Lee caught up in half a second.

Annoyed, Neji dropped back by at least two meters. That was fun. It even got him away from Lee. Seriously, the guy was a whole new stage of crazy. And Neji thought fan girls were the worst.

"Hey, Neji!"

That's better.

"Hey, Tenten." Neji sighed.

"How's the running?"

"Don't even start."

Tenten laughed. "So, Sasuke said his brothers coming home this weekend. We're going to go hang out at his house this weekend. Are you going to come?"

"Sure. Why not?"

"So, are you and Itachi friends or something?"

Neji blinked. "What makes you think that?"

Tenten shrugged. "Well, just how he defended you against your uncle. You seem like you're friends."

Neji smirked. "Yeah, we've worked together a lot. I guess you could say we're friends. We get each other's backs because we're technically in the same boat."

"What do you mean?"

"Everybody wants me to be in their movies the same way they want Itachi to do their CGI. Basically, we understand each other and back each other up when we can't take it anymore."

"I see."

"Plus, Itachi's hilarious, so I don't see anybody not liking him."

Tenten laughed. "How hilarious is he?"

"Well, the most I can say now is that his four favourite words are 'Fire in the hole'."

Tenten laughed harder. "What about his friends? Sasuke mentioned a Deidara."

Neji snorted. "That guy is off his nut."

Tenten giggled. "How so?"

Neji shook his head. "I can't explain it in words. Just know, he's completely insane."

Tenten laughed. "What does he do?"

"What do you mean?"

"What does he do...in the special effects thing."

"Oh. He does all the pyrotechnic stuff. Like explosions, fires, stuff like that. He also choreographs stunts, and that can get completely insane at times."

Tenten laughed. "Who else is there?"

"Well, there's Sasori. He does all the mechanical stuff, like robots and puppets."

"Cool!"

"And last, there's Shikamaru. He sits up in the same office as Itachi. They work on the same films together. You can't get one without the other."

"What does Shikamaru do?"

"Backgrounds and environmental CGI. For example, he does cliffs and valleys, as well as creates giant waves with the assistance of Itachi due to his attention to detail. They work together on everything, so it's sometimes hard to tell which of the two did what."

"If you were to guess who did what, what would you guess?"

"I would guess that Shikamaru did the layouts, and Itachi added the details. It's after that that they create the movement together. When they work like that, they can create a giant wave in a matter of hours."

"That's really cool."

"You haven't even seen them work yet!"

Tenten laughed. "I'm sure I will soon."

Neji smirked. She had a point.

.oOo.

English class was totally uneventful. English class always is uneventful. Well, the first day was eventful with Mr. Hatake's reading material. But really. English class is BORING. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love reading and writing, but English class just ticks me off... We get to read depressing stories! WHEE! Sorry, I'll stop now.

Something landed on my desk. It was a folded note. I glanced at Neji to see him smirking at me before we returned to our books.

I flipped it open and read under the desk.

_Mr. Hatake has a zit on his eyebrow._ I looked up at the teacher and sure enough, there it was. I tried not to laugh audibly as I scribbled a reply.

_XD lol Neji. You're too observant for your own good._

I tossed it back to him. He sniggered at my reply, but didn't write anything back. Ah, high school. You can't get enough of it.

**A/N: Yeah I admit it, I'm just writing filler chapters right now XD. Deal friends! :D :P I think I'm going to skip the next few days of school and just go to the weekend, because weekends are fun, right? :).**


	9. Chapter 9: Fire In The Hole!

Chapter 9: Fire in the Hole!

You never realize just how fast a week goes by until it's the weekend. Then you sigh with relief and go THANK HEAVENS FOR SATURDAY!

But hey, Sasuke kept to his promise to let us come by on the weekend to hang out with Itachi for a bit. Even better, Sasuke had told us that Itachi was actually going to blow stuff up for us! Ah, I couldn't wait.

.oOo.

We all pretty much met up at the park and walked to Sasuke's house. Neji tagged along as well, so that was an added bonus. Upon arrival, Itachi was in the backyard doing something completely unintelligible...oh wait! He was swinging a sword!

No, no, not a real sword, just a carved wooden one. He was pretty good at it if I do say so myself.

"Hey, nii-san."

Itachi looked over. "Hey, guys." He greeted before swinging the sword again.

"When are we going out?" Sasuke asked.

"When Shika gets here." Itachi stated. "Is Neji here?"

"Yeah, I'm here." Neji waved at him from the porch.

"They said they were going to drag you along, but I wasn't sure." Itachi flipped the sword before tossing it to Neji.

Neji caught it by the hilt and jumped the porch railing. By then Itachi had another sword and they immediately began to spar. It was the most epic thing I had ever seen. Then I recognized some of the movements.

"HEY! That's from that fantasy epic you were in!" I cried.

Neji laughed.

"Wow, Itachi. How do you know all the moves?" Sasuke asked.

"I choreograph the fight scenes!" He said triumphantly.

"I thought Deidara did that." Sasuke pointed out.

"No, Deidara does stunts like...THIS!" Itachi kicked out at Neji.

Neji faked getting the hit and went sprawling backwards as he did in the movie. It wasn't as epic for the lack of special effects, but it was real and humorous all the same.

"OI! WEASEL! I'M HERE!"

"Weasel?" Sasuke laughed.

"DEER! IN THE BACK!" Itachi called.

"Okay then?" Sakura laughed.

A few seconds later, a man who was clearly Itachi's age walked through the gate into the backyard. He had black hair tied up in a spiky ponytail.

I heard a gasp behind me. I turned to see Ino totally swooning. Okay, usually not a big deal, but Ino usually squeals when she sees a 'hot' guy. To see her swoon was a totally different story.

"Hey, Neji," Shikamaru greeted, raising a hand.

"Yo," Neji replied and high fived his hand.

"Are Blondie and Reddie meeting us there?" Shikamaru asked Itachi.

Itachi nodded. "Yup."

"What are we going to be doing, by the way?" Sasuke asked.

Itachi put a finger to his mouth. "It's a secret!"

Shikamaru gestured to us. "So, introduce me to these guys?"

"Technically, I don't know all their names." Itachi chuckled.

Shikamaru decided to do it himself. "Okay, I know you're Sasuke, so get out of here."

Sasuke shook his head and walked from the porch. He looked at Naruto. "I don't know you."

"Naruto Uzumaki!" Naruto replied.

"I'm Shikamaru Nara, nice to meet you." He moved onto the next person which happened to be me.

"Tenten Akiyama." I said before he could ask.

He smirked. "Shikamaru as you now know." He moved onto Ino who just about fainted when he looked at her. Now THIS was an event. I have never seen Ino so tongue tied.

"And who are you?" Shikamaru asked.

"I-I-I-Ino..." She stuttered. WOW! Ino never stutters! He moved onto Sakura.

"Sakura Haruno. And let me guess...Shikamaru Nara."

Shikamaru gave a fake look of surprise. "It's like you read my mind!" Then he laughed.

"Come on, guys." Itachi called. "We're going to the bomb range."

"WOOT!" Shikamaru cried. He jumped the railing and followed Itachi. Sasuke and Naruto followed eagerly with Neji taking up the rear.

Ino grabbed both Sakura and I.

"Oh. My. God." She said with emphasis. "Did you see him?"

"Who? Shikamaru?" I asked.

"He is so fucking hot it's not even funny."

I stared at Ino. "Girl, he's probably five years older than you!"

Ino tossed her head. "I honestly don't care! He's hot!"

Sakura laughed. "I'd call him cute, but whatever you say, Ino."

Ino released us and we followed the group into Itachi's van.

.oOo.

We all piled into Itachi's van. Luckily his van had an extra seat between the two seats at the front that could be pulled from the floor at will. Itachi was driving while Shikamaru sat in the passenger seat. Because of this, Ino sat in the row just behind said passenger seat beside me who was in the middle beside Neji who was beside me. In the back were Sakura, Sasuke and Naruto.

"Weasel, give me your iPod." Shikamaru ordered.

"Hey, Buck Norris, relax." Itachi handed over his iPod touch.

Shikamaru laughed. "Buck Norris?"

"A male deer is a buck, and I just decided to rhyme it with Chuck Norris."

Shikamaru laughed harder than I had seen anyone laugh.

"How long is the trip, nii-san?" Sasuke asked from the back.

"About half an hour." Itachi replied.

Shikamaru plugged the iPod into the stereo system as Itachi fired up the van and backed it out of the driveway.

AC/DC began to echo through the speakers.

_Oi, Oi, Oi, Oi,_

Neji laughed. "I love this song."

Naruto began bobbing to it in the back screaming _Oi_ along with the words. Naruto's energy was totally infectious, and soon Sasuke was doing it as well. The entire car was bobbing in perfect sync.

_See me ride out of that sunset_

_On your color TV screen_

_Out for all that I can get_

_If you know what I mean_

_Women to the left of me_

_And women to the right_

_Ain't got no gun_

_Ain't got no knife_

_Don't you start no fight_

"WAIT FOR IT!" Shikamaru cried. Then at the same time, whoever knew the lyrics chorused.

"CAUSE I'M T-N-T!"

I howled with laughter. Neji had done it, and now even he was laughing.

_I'm dynamite,_

"T-N-T!" the car chorused.

_And I'll win the fight!_

"T-N-T!"

_I'm a power load,_

"T-N-T!" Even I joined in that time.

"WATCH ME EXPLOOOOODE!" Naruto screamed.

"YEAH!" Itachi cried from the front seat. The whole car was laughing.

"You guys are right about this Rock n' Roll stuff!" Ino cried. "It IS awesome!" She laughed.

"YES!" I cried triumphantly. "INO SEE'S THE LIGHT!"

"That would mean that she's dead!" Shikamaru laughed as the lyrics started up again.

_I'm dirty, mean and mighty unclean_

_I'm a wanted man_

_Public enemy number one_

_Understand?  
So lock up your daughter_

_Lock up your wife_

_Lock up your back door_

_And run for your life_

_The man is back in town_

_So don't you mess around_

"CAUSE I'M T-N-T!" The car roared.

_I'm dynamite,_

"T-N-T!"

_And I'll win the fight!_

"T-N-T!"

_I'm a power load,_

"T-N-T!"

"WATCH ME EXPLOOOOOODE!" Naruto soloed again.

Shikamaru broke out in a sick air guitar. Itachi was shaking his head, doing his utmost best to not be distracted by his friend.

"T-N-T!" The car chorused.

"OI! OI! OI!" Sasuke and Naruto roared.

"T-N-T!" Everybody else cried.

Naruto and Sasuke continued with the "OI! OI! OI!"

"T-N-T!"

"OI! OI! OI!"

"T-N-T!"

"OI! OI! OI!"

"I'm dynamite!" Shikamaru screeched.

"T-N-T!" We chorused. Sasuke and Naruto were still doing the "OI" thing.

"And I'll win the fight!" Itachi joined in that time.

"T-N-T!" (Oi, Oi, Oi)

"I'm a power load!"

"T-N-T!"

"WATCH ME EXPLOOOOOOODE!" We all roared.

Shikamaru broke into air guitar again. Naruto did as well as it began to get more and more bonkers. When the song was over, we all killed ourselves laughing.

.oOo.

The rest of the ride was just as bonkers. Half an hour of insane crazy rock with your friends will leave you in a good mood for the rest of the day. Especially if you have just arrived at a bomb range.

We all jumped out of the van eagerly.

"HEY!" Shikamaru cried to a pair of guys standing by a concrete bunker.

"Finally!" The red head cried.

The doors opened and we all piled out eagerly.

"You brought an audience?" The blonde laughed.

"Heck, yeah we did!" Itachi cried. He was still in the driver's seat. "Open up the garage. I want no damage done to this van when we're through."

The red head pushed a button and the bunker's garage door swung open, letting Itachi drive in and kill the engine.

Shikamaru and the other two followed him in, so we took it as an open invitation to join them.

"So, where is everything?" Sasuke asked.

"A five minute walk away from here. This is where we keep our cars, so they don't get damaged." Itachi replied.

After nabbing the cameras, and various other equipment, we all trudged to a bunker off in the distance. Once we got there, the four special effects experts stood in a circle and began to discuss what they were going to do. I heard some exciting words such as 'thermite', 'C4', and various other words that got me pumped up for what they were about to do.

"Hey look at this thing!"

We all turned to see Naruto looking at a robot in the corner. He reached out to touch it.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, step away from the robot," The red head ordered.

Naruto backed away.

"Thank you." He sighed.

"You guys haven't been formally introduced yet," Itachi said suddenly. "Blondie over there is Deidara, and Reddie is Sasori."

Deidara nodded with a crooked grin on his face, while Sasori checked on his robots.

"This is my brother Sasuke, and these are Sasuke's friends,"

"Hey, Neji! Long time no see!" Deidara cried.

Neji gave a curt nod and Sasori turned around.

"Well I'll be..." He laughed. "Neji's here!"

Itachi began to introduce the rest of us. "And this is, Tenten, Ino, Sakura and Naruto."

"All right, let's get this started." Deidara stated simply.

Sasori and Shikamaru dragged a compressed air rig out of the bunker.

"This one's safe enough to watch outside." Itachi told us as he followed them out with a large metal drum with the top cut off. Deidara supported the back of the drum.

It took the team of four several minutes to set up the giant drum complete with air cannon. Eventually, a couple of people showed up. I guessed it was Deidara's dad and some other person. They helped to set up.

"Okay, we test it with sawdust?" Shikamaru asked rubbing his hands together.

"Heck yes." Itachi laughed.

In came a forklift and a bag of sawdust was dumped into the bin. The group was cackling as a flare was lit and jammed carefully into the sawdust.

Sasori began to roll a wire from the sawdust cannon. It was attached to a button to release the compressed air. Itachi waved us back a good distance from the monster of a cannon.

"Are we rolling?" Sasori asked.

Itachi held a laptop in his hand. Wirelessly, he turned on all the cameras. Then he double checked it.

"We're good to go."

Sasori nodded. "All right, sawdust cannon, in three! Two! One!" He jammed his finger on the button.

_PFFF!_

The air released, and fired the sawdust into the air. The sawdust caught immediately and turned into a massive fireball.

"WHOA!" I screamed. I took a few steps back. "That was EPIC!"

"You haven't seen the creamer yet!" Deidara laughed. He was getting pumped up.

With that, they began to set the cannon up again. And in went the coffee mate as Sasori pumped the air pressure back up.

Deidara went back, cackling like a madman.

Itachi lit the flare and stuck it in before running back to the group. He activated the cameras again.

"Go for it!" Itachi looked up.

Sasori started up the countdown again. "Non dairy creamer cannon in three! Two! One!"

The creamer went up, then caught a second later.

"HOLY SHIT!" Neji booked it before cackling manically at the smoke drifting into the air. Sasuke looked like he was in a state of shock while he laughed from anxiety.

"That was AWESOME!" Naruto cried.

We took a break after the creamer cannon while we waited for them to take down the cannon. An hour later, they began setting up the next part of their insanity.

Deidara was far off to the side in a full body heat suit while he mixed thermite. I could be wrong, but I think he was doing a little dance while he did so.

"Hey, Neji," I turned towards him. "What's thermite?"

Neji shrugged. "The best way I figure something out, is the thoughts I get from hearing a word."

"What does the word 'thermite' make you think?" I asked.

"Hmm..." Neji thought about it for a second. "The 'therm' part makes me think of 'thermal' and 'thermostat', and since both are related to heat, I'm going to assume it's something that's really hot. The 'mite' makes me think of chemicals or the periodic table of elements, and those things can be unpredictable, so I'm going to assume that thermite is something really hot, and it does something crazy."

I heard a laugh behind me. Neji and I turned to look at Sasori.

"What would you do if I told you that you got it bang on?" Sasori laughed.

"I did?" Neji grinned.

Sasori nodded. "Take a look at him." He gestured towards Deidara. He was still doing a dance.

Neji sniggered. "The bigger the explosion the more excited he gets, eh?"

"That's the way he is. He loves explosions. However, thermite doesn't usually explode. It burns at a temperature of 2500 degrees Celsius, or 4500 degrees Fahrenheit." Sasori stated.

My jaw dropped.

"Have you heard of the _Hindenburg_?" Sasori asked.

"The zeppelin that blew up?" I tilted my head.

Sasori nodded. "They coated the _Hindenburg _with thermite."

"Why?" Neji cried.

"Thermite can also be used for heat insulation, so I suppose they were trying to keep the hot air inside the zeppelin. Regardless, it was filled with hydrogen, and that was pretty much a death sentence." Sasori looked at something behind us. We turned around to see Deidara in the heat suit walking towards us.

"Greetings earthlings! I come in peace from Jupiter!" Deidara said, raising a hand. He laughed.

"Oh really?" Neji raised an eyebrow. "Well we come from Mars."

I looked at Neji. "What?"

Neji shrugged. "There's a rumour that a meteor crashed into Mars millions of years ago, and sent little rocks to Earth, and that's how life on Earth started."

Deidara pulled off his helmet. "That's a scary thought."

"So, is it ready?" Sasori asked.

"Heh heh heh..." Deidara rubbed his hands together. "Oh yeah..."

"HEY DEIDARA!"

"What?" Deidara asked, pulling off the heat mask.

Shikamaru and Itachi approached the group carrying a cooler between them.

"What is it?" Sasori asked, walking towards it.

"What's the best way to cool down thermite?" Shikamaru asked.

"Uh...Don't light it?" Deidara shrugged.

"No," Itachi stated.

"You put it on ice!" Shikamaru cried, flipping the lid of the cooler.

"Ta daa," Itachi made a motion with his arms to give it a bit of emphasis.

Deidara didn't seem to get the joke. "You're going to put thermite...on ice?" He said slowly.

"If it makes you feel any better..." Shikamaru crossed his arms.

"Thermite explodes when you put it on ice." Itachi finished quickly.

Deidara's eyes widened. "Really?"

Shikamaru laughed. "Actually, the ice explodes. But it still explodes."

"How do you know?" Deidara asked.

"_The Mythbusters_." Itachi and Shikamaru said simultaneously.

"Why didn't I ever see that episode...?" Deidara sighed.

"We just Googled 'thermite'." Shikamaru laughed. "We got a whole bunch of results for it, including _Mythbusters_ stuff."

The group set up a platform of plywood and bricks to put the ice on. Then they pulled out a bunch of brick sized ice blocks and formed a nice sized block. Deidara set up the bucket of thermite and the fuse.

"Let's blow up some ice!' Shikamaru cried.

"YEAH!" Itachi, Deidara and Sasori cried.

A few minutes later, we were all huddled behind Plexiglas barriers that separated us from the block of ice with the bucket of thermite on top. Deidara lit the two foot long slow burning fuse that lead to a book of matches and ran from the block and behind the barrier.

"How long does it take for the fuse to burn through?" Neji asked.

"It's slow burning so it burns through six inches in 30 seconds." Deidara stated. "It should go any second now."

We watched the fuse enter the bucket...

Nothing happened.

"Uh oh." Sasori chuckled nervously.

"Now what?" Itachi laughed.

"Wait a few seconds just in case it actually goes..." Deidara stated.

It didn't.

Deidara began putting the heat suit back on. Nobody said a word. This was a tense situation. With unfortunate happening of the thermite not igniting, Deidara had to go in close to reset the fuse.

However, the thermite could go at any second.

"If it ignites, just book it, Deidara." Sasori said as Deidara started for the bucket of thermite. Deidara got to the bucket and reset the fuse without any more unfortunate happenings, and ran back to the barrier as the new fuse burned.

This time, it ignited.

There was a shower of sparks as the thermite ignited. Then, a small pop was heard. Half a second later, there was a loud _POP _that sounded like a popcorn pop, only magnified 20 times. A huge smoke cloud shot into the sky while still glowing pieces of ice and thermite shot in all directions.

"WOW!" Deidara cried. "That was BEAUTIFUL!"

"I have to agree." Sasori laughed.

.oOo.

After the thermite explosion, it was time to head on home, unfortunately. We all piled back into Itachi's van and headed back to Sasuke's house, and civilization. Deidara and Sasori had their own ride, and thus, parted with us when the day was done.

The drive home was quiet considering the racket we made on our way to the bomb range in the first place. I think we were all tired. I certainly was.


	10. Chapter 10: Truth and Lies

Perfect

Chapter 10: Truth and Lies

Neji thought that by going to the normal world he could get away from the world of fame and fortune. However, he supposed you can take yourself from the fame, but you can't take the fame away from you. Neji was still famous. On the few occasions he checked out those celebrity talk shows, the top story was usually a confused rant about why he quit.

On the even rarer occasions he checked his Facebook page, his wall was plastered with messages of woe from his fans. On this particular day Neji was checking his Facebook in the only place he had access to unrestricted internet (the main building of Konoha's movie industry where he had hisown office), he decided he owed them an explanation. On his wall under 'what's on your mind?' he began typing.

_Everyone is confused about my sudden and inexplicable disappearance, but the explanation is a little too long for me to explain why I've disappeared. Don't worry, I haven't given up yet. I just want to relax a little bit. I'm just a bit stressed out at the moment. I thank you for your concern. You guys are some of the best fans in the world, and I'm grateful to have you._

Neji stared at the message for a few seconds before clicking 'post'. For all he knew, he would regret it later. As Neji leaned back, stretching his arms above his head, he imagined all of the people who had him on their friends list getting e-mails, as well as their smart phones and iPods pinging off as they were alerted to his announcement.

Neji's cell phone ringed in his pocket, and he quickly pulled it out. Itachi had sent him a text message.

_It's about time you relieved the anxiety of your followers, Neji._

Neji laughed and typed back.

_Yeah, hopefully it won't backfire on me. I'm just getting sick of all of the worrying and whatnot._

In the next few minutes, Neji racked up over fifty Facebook e-mails. And yes, he read every last one of them. Most of them said things like 'Woo! Neji's back!' but there were a few odd ones that said many things that warmed my heart. Things like 'I suppose even actors need breaks!' or 'Enjoy your break Neji! Can't wait for your next film!' brought a smile to his lips. It was comments like these that he responded to.

.oOo.

The day passed smoothly, and so did the rest of the week. Neji updated his Facebook when he could just to prove to everyone that he was still alive. It got to the point where he blocked Facebook from sending him emails whenever someone commented on his status. Neji had well over 10,000 people on his friends list (he felt obliged to accept all of the requests) and so whenever he updated, the emails would come in hoards, up to five hundred a day. And seriously, that backed up his inbox really bad.

But Neji's biggest problem came on Saturday. He knew an attack from his uncle was coming, but what he didn't expect is what really happened.

The text message came at 10:00 at night. It was from Itachi. When Neji checked it, he was confused by what it said.

_Turn on a television, channel 7._

Short and to the point. That was not Itachi. It had him worried.

Neji had a television in his puny house, but it was only basic cable. He got channels one to thirteen, so he quickly put it on channel seven. The first thing he noticed was that Entertainment Tonight Konoha was airing, and it was him they were talking about. Okay, so he wasn't worried about that. Of course they were talking about him. They had been for the last several weeks, and now that he'd started posting Facebook messages, the hype had started up again.

The next thing Neji noticed chilled him to the bone.

It was Hiashi.

He was being interviewed.

About _him_.

"_So, Hiashi, tell me. What prompted Neji to quit the acting business and leave?"_

Hiashi sighed. _"I'm not entirely sure what happened. But what I do know is that he's been changing for the last little while."_

"_How so?"_

"_He's been becoming more and more violent and confrontational. His behaviour has gotten stranger as well."_

"No, that's a lie..." Neji whispered.

"_I also have reason to believe that drugs are involved."_

"No!" Neji grabbed his head and stared at the television in horror. This couldn't be happening. Hiashi was _trashing_ him on one of the most watched entertainment shows in Konoha!

He had to stop it.

He couldn't let this happen.

Neji ran to the door and threw it open before slamming it shut behind him, not bothering to lock it. He took the stairs, nearly falling down it three times as he headed for the lobby. People milling through the front hallways turned to stare as he ran through them, heading for the doors. Neji flung them open, realizing at the last second that it was pouring rain, and a thunderstorm was currently in session. He also realized he had left his shoes at the front door in his mad scramble. Neji ignored the way his socked feet ached dully because he was running down hard pavement and there was nothing supporting his heels.

Neji ran faster and longer than he ever had before. His lungs burned like fire as thunder rumbled overhead, and rain ran down his face. Neji ran through red lights on multiple occasions when no cars were coming, and he j-walked and leapt fences just as often. It felt like an eternity, but in reality, it only took him five minutes to run from his apartment at the southern end of Konoha, to Konoha's main broadcasting station that was merely an offshoot of the main movie industry building in the west end. And believe me, this is quite a distance.

Neji tore through the front doors, realizing the whole company was standing there, watching the broadcast on the giant screen television. They only looked away to see who had barged in so suddenly, but even then he could still hear Hiashi being interviewed through the speaker system.

"Neji!" Someone called after him.

Neji didn't even respond. He just shoved through the crowd and kept running. Down one hall, take a left, a right, count three doors. He burst through the fourth door.

"STOP! HE'S A LIAR!" Neji screamed frantically towards the stage. There was an entire crowd of people as well as a film crew, and they turned to look at him. Neji realized what a sight he was, covered in mud and water, barefoot, and wild eyed. Still, that didn't stop him. Neji saw the look of horror on Hiashi's face at the sight of him.

"Cut the broadcast!" Neji stated, jogging towards the stage. The crowd whispered softly as he passed. Neji knew they were still broadcasting, and that was what infuriated him.

Someone grabbed him from behind. It took Neji half a second to realize it was a guard, and there were two of them.

"NO!" Neji cried. "STOP THE BROADCAST! HE'S LYING TO YOU!"

"I'm sorry, he's been very disturbed since his father died." Hiashi stated.

Neji's jaw dropped. He was shocked, no longer having the strength to put up a fight. How? How could he say that? How could he say that in front of hundreds of people?

"Lies..." Neji whispered, his voice breaking slightly. "It's all lies..."

Neji was so numb, he didn't even feel the guards drag him from the room.

.oOo.

Neji had horrible nightmares that night. When he checked his Facebook the next day, he realized the damage had been done. His wall was plastered with hate messages, and his friends list had been cut in half. Hiashi had ruined his reputation

And in Hollywood, doing something like that is like shooting fish in a barrel. It's easy, and it's cruel.

And getting your reputation back is like threading a needle with a toothpick.

**A/N: And now, I'm finally going to follow what the summary of this story says. Because in Hollywood, everything isn't perfect.**

**And yes, shooting fish in a barrel is extremely easy. All you have to do is open fire on the barrel and all the fish float to the top.**

**As for threading a needle with a toothpick, yeah...I can't even thread a needle with **_**thread**_**, okay? And that's the whole definition of **_**threading**_** a needle.**

**Review if you've got some spare time! I would not ask for reviews because sometimes it makes readers feel like I'm desperate or something, but really. I care about what you have to say which is why I ask for reviews! Speak to me, my friends! :D**


	11. Chapter 11: Aftermath

**A/N: I'm just going to take the time to say: Thanks so much for the reviews!**

**There was a lot of Hiashi bashing in those reviews...one of my favourites was something along the lines of 'Hiashi should go DIE IN A DITCH and then ROT IN HELL' or something along those lines... You know who you are XD**

Perfect

Chapter 11: Aftermath

Itachi listened to his phone ring in his ear. Once, twice...thrice... ten times before the answering machine picked up.

_Hi, it's Neji. Can't come to the phone, so leave a message._

"Damn it Neji, pick up!" Itachi cried before slapping his phone shut. he had been trying to contact him since this morning. Last night, Hiashi had completely trashed him on television. Maybe Neji was suffering from the effects? Maybe he was depressed or something...

The door to his office opened and Shikamaru walked in. He closed the door with a sharp _click_ behind him.

"Hiashi's in the building if you want to attack him." Shikamaru stated. "I just saw him walk by."

Itachi nodded, his mind reeling. Oh man...if he even so much as caught a glimpse of Hiashi...

"I'd kill him, Shikamaru." Itachi stated, rubbing his head. "That bastard..."

Shikamaru nodded and sat down at his desk. They shared an office, as they always worked together. Ever since University.

Itachi stood up. "I'm going to go see if Neji's okay." he stated, grabbing his jacket and throwing it over his shoulders.

"You know where he is?" Shikamaru asked.

Itachi nodded. "Yeah. I think I'm the only person he's told where he's staying."

"Give him my condolences for me." Shikamaru had a copy of Maya open and was beginning to create a figure on the grid.

"Sure thing." Itachi walked out of the office, heading for the stairs. He hated elevators with a passion. He hated them so much, he could write an essay on them. Point one, they're annoying. Subtopics, one you have to wait for them, two you are cramped like sardines when there's enough people on there, and three, they hold smells. Point two, they're freaking dangerous. Claustrophobia is a very bad thing to have in an elevator. It's like being put in a gas chamber for goodness sakes.

Itachi's eyes locked on a face he didn't want to see. Hiashi was talking to Hinata in the lobby of the building. Hinata looked frantic, and Hiashi simply looked defensive. Itachi realized a second later what was going on.

"Off to ruin someone else's life, eh Hiashi?" Itachi stated, his voice barely a growl.

Relief washed over Hinata's face when she realized she wasn't alone. She skittered to Itachi's side, which surprised him. He never would've expected Hinata to run to him like that. What was he? Some kind of shield?

Itachi's gaze hardened as I stared at Hiashi's slightly abashed face. If he was a shield, he would play the part to the best of his abilities.

"What do you want, Uchiha?" Hiashi hissed.

"What do YOU want, Hyuuga?" Itachi growled. "Why'd you do that to Neji?"

"That is none of your concern."

Itachi's eyes narrowed slightly. Hinata backed away, a finger over her mouth. He looked absolutely terrifying. Rage rolled off of Itachi like some hellish aura.

"None of my concern?" Itachi's voice was foreign, even to himself. He didn't know he could sound that angry. "Listen, you bastard, Neji is like a brother to me. You couldn't possibly have thought you could pull a stunt like that on television and get away with it. So what the hell was it? Did you want your power back? Is that all it is?"

Hiashi's eyes darkened. "Stay out of this! It's not your concern!"

"You made it my concern when you messed with Neji!" Itachi snarled.

He was seeing red. Itachi had to get out of there. He was going to throw that bastard through the glass window to his right if he didn't. Itachi suddenly imagined himself doing it, the glass glittering as Hiashi's form crashed through it, watching the shards leave deep, bloody gashes across his skin.

Itachi shook his head violently, shooting Hiashi one last death glare before walking towards the door. He couldn't stay there. Not without doing something he would seriously regret.

"He needed to be taught a lesson! I'm still in charge here, it's as simple as that!"

Itachi whirled around. If he had been closer to Hiashi, he would've thrown him through that window in half a second. But because he was fifteen paces away, all Itachi could do was walk menacingly towards him before throwing him out the window. Now he was rolling in the thought of hurling Hiashi out that window...

"ITACHI STOP!" Hinata cried.

Itachi stopped, glaring at Hiashi with all the rage he could muster.

"You son of a bitch." he said hoarsely. "I hope your brother returns from the dead and drags you into the depths of hell to rot for the rest of eternity. You deserve it, for the shit you've pulled." Itachi turned around and stalked out the door, fury still rolling off him in waves.

"I-Itachi relax..." Hinata said timidly.

He didn't respond to her. Itachi stalked towards his car and unlocked the door. He was about to slam it when Hinata grabbed onto the frame. Itachi looked up at her, her silver eyes bearing a striking resemblance to Neji's eyes were wide and fearful.

"You can't drive in that state!" Hinata stated.

Itachi sighed. Hinata was such a voice of reason. He nodded and tossed his keys on the dashboard before leaning back in his seat and closing his eyes. Hinata allowed the door to close and then walked around to the passenger side and hopped in without his saying so. But it didn't really matter at a time like this.

"What was Hiashi trying to do to you Hinata?" Itachi asked when he felt like he had calmed down enough.

Hinata reached into her bag and removed a script. She held it out to him. Itachi took it from her and read the title: _Red Wine_. Itachi frowned as he scanned the summary. HIs frown deepened and began shifting into disgust as he realized what the script was.

"Did he honestly allow this?" Itachi asked, his voice trembling.

Hinata bit her lip and nodded. "I wanted to be in that fantasy movie. The one with the Mermaids." Hinata smiled to herself. "But...Hiashi told me it was juvenile and childish."

Itachi blinked a few times. She had just called her father by his name. Holy crap...what disrespect. Not to mention the fact that he didn't blame her one bit.

"What else?" Itachi asked.

Hinata sighed. "I told him that I really wanted to be in the movie, so he began looking around at other movies and put me in _that_ one." Hinata cringed with disgust.

Itachi looked back at the script. Then he looked back up at her. "How old are you?"

"I'm sixteen."

Itachi scoffed. "Sixteen? Sixteen and he's trying to throw you in this crap?"

Hinata nodded. "Yes. I know what it is. That's why I don't want to be in it."

"Even I wouldn't act in this stuff!" He cried. "This is bloody porn!"

Hinata nodded again. "I...I think I'm going to do what Neji did. I think I understand now. Hiashi's in it for the money. He's the one who gets paid when Neji and I act in a movie, because we're not eighteen yet. I...I have a feeling that he literally auctions us off to the highest bidder. He doesn't care what we act in, just as long as he makes a profit off of it."

"Son of a bitch..." Itachi let his forehead hit the steering wheel. "That son of a bitch..."

"Please stop swearing, Itachi."

"Sorry..." He sighed.

"But I'm afraid, Itachi." Hinata whispered. "I mean, what if he does the same thing to me as he did to Neji?"

He looked up at her. She looked so frightened and scared that Itachi couldn't help but cross the line from hate to utter loathing of Hiashi's name.

"I won't let it happen. I'm going to get Neji's reputation back, and I'm going to help you keep yours." Itachi tossed the script onto the floor and grabbed his keys. He started the engine of his car, and backed out of the driveway. "Just give me some time to think."

"Itachi, I want to get away from Hiashi as soon as I can." Hinata stated.

Itachi nodded. "When we get to Neji's, we'll talk this crap out. We'll solve it."

"You know everything don't you?"

He glanced at her in his peripheral vision. She was watching me calmly.

"Yes." Itachi sighed. "I know everything."

"Neji trusts you."

Itachi nodded.

"Neji doesn't trust people that easily. You...I don't know why Neji trusts you the way he does."

"Hm." He considered what Hinata was saying. He believed it.

.oOo.

_It was his first big movie project. Itachi was told he was going to do the CGI for a movie called _Dragon's Blade,_ a fantasy epic much like _The Chronicles of Narnia_, only with a plotline that was just as epic as _The Lord of the Rings_. Itachi was stoked. He walked into the conference room and his eyes scanned over the cast and crew. Shikamaru was there as well. He took his seat beside him. The director began to explain what was going to happen with the story._

_It was then that Itachi noticed Neji. He was thirteen years old back then; quite a young age for an actor. His eyes caught Itachi's, his silver gaze meeting his dark one. Maybe it was because his brother was the same age as him. But maybe it was something else as well. All Itachi knew at that moment was that Neji's eyes held more pain and suffering than a boy his age should have. Way too much._

_Once the briefing was over, Neji disappeared. Itachi didn't know where he went, but he never left my mind._

_..._

_Months later, Itachi saw him again. More technically speaking, he found him. Shikamaru had stupidly spilled a can of pop all over his desk, and was frantically trying to stop the flow from touching his expensive computer and everything else on his desk. Itachi ran to the nearest janitors closet and pulled the door open. He stopped dead in my tracks at the sight of Neji, sitting in the corner, his eyes wide and frightened at the sudden entrance. Again, Itachi caught sight of that pain in his gaze. He was scared. Itachi didn't know what he was scared of, but he knew he was scared._

_Itachi grabbed a roll of paper towel and cast one last look at him._

"_Wait here." He said as kindly as I could. "I won't tell anyone."_

_Then Itachi left, closing the closet behind him and jogging back to his office and handing over the paper towel to a relieved Shikamaru. Itachi ran back to the closet and opened the door again. He had expected him to have run away, but to his immense relief, Neji still sat in his corner, arms around his knees. Itachi flicked on the light and closed the door, sitting on the floor beside him._

"_What's wrong?" He asked._

_Neji sniffed. "I don't want to go home." His voice was so young and scared. It was so much like his brother Sasuke during the time he was scared of the monster in his closet._

"_Why don't you want to go home?"_

_He sniffed again but didn't answer._

"_What's your name?" Itachi asked._

"_Neji."_

"_I'm Itachi, Neji."_

_He glanced up at him._

"_My office is in room 305. If you ever need a place to hide, don't hesitate to go up there, okay?" Itachi gave him a warm smile. "A janitors closet is hardly a decent place for you to hide. There's too many dangerous chemicals and solvents in here, and if you spilled some on yourself, you could get hurt."_

_With a little bit more coaxing, Itachi finally got him out of the closet. He let him stay in his office and watch him and Shikamaru create the CGI for his movie. Eventually it was time for me to go home, and Itachi left the poor kid to the mercy of Hiashi. If Itachi had known that Hiashi was the reason for his fear, he never would've left him._

_..._

_The next time Itachi saw Neji was another few months later. This was after the movie had been finished and was still being processed in both CGI, and by editors. He was working alone that day, because Shikamaru had called in sick, which was surprising as Shikamaru never got sick. Caught side of the couch maybe, but on the phone, he sounded legitimately sick, so Itachi believed him._

_Itachi's door flew open and he jumped to my feet in surprise, screwing up his Maya model. He cursed and hit the undo button before turning to see what all the ruckus was about. Itachi caught sight of Neji and quickly moved to the door. He closed it and turned towards Neji who had a hand over his nose and mouth._

_There was a knock at his office door and Neji looked towards it in fear before diving beneath Itachi's desk. Itachi pushed his chair in front of the cavity, creating a noise as if to slide away from his desk and stand up. He walked to the door and pulled it open. This was my first sight of Hiashi Hyuuga. The second Itachi looked at him, he knew there was something he hated about him._

"_Have you seen my nephew?" He asked. "He ran this way."_

"_I haven't seen anyone." Itachi stated. "I've been working on a movie for the last couple of hours."_

_His eyes narrowed suspiciously. "So you haven't seen Neji?"_

_Itachi shook his head. "Not since I added CGI to his image before my break."_

_Hiashi stared him down. "I know when someone's lying to me, you know. Let me through."_

_Itachi scoffed. "Are you a cop? Do you have a search warrant?"_

"_If you won't let me in, it's obvious that you're hiding something."_

"_I have work to do. Excuse me." Itachi closed the door, only to have Hiashi stick his foot in it._

"_Let me in!" He shoved the door open._

"_GET THE HELL OUT OF MY OFFICE!" Itachi roared, stepping in his path, trying to stop him from spotting Neji's trembling form beneath the desk._

_Thank heavens at that point, security had a moment of sixth sense and came running to his aid. They asked what the problem was and Itachi told them that Hiashi had just entered his office without permission, and he was disrupting his work. Security removed him and Itachi closed the door. He made sure to lock it before pulling the chair from his desk and telling Neji it was safe to come out. He still had his hand over his face._

"_Are you all right?" Itachi asked._

_He shook his head slowly. "I'm hurt." He said, his voice trembling._

_Itachi frowned before helping him out from under the desk. He sat him on his chair. "Let me see." Itachi told him._

_Neji lowered his hand. Itachi tried and failed to hide his shock. Someone had hit him. That much he could tell. His lip was split, and he seemed to just been getting over a nosebleed._

"_What the hell did he do to you?" Itachi whispered._

"_He...he hit me..." Neji said softly._

"_Are you hurt anywhere else?" Itachi asked, patting down his arms, watching for a reaction. He flinched at the first touch. Itachi frowned. "Did he grab you?"_

_Neji nodded slowly._

_Itachi opened one of his desk drawers and pulled out a wet nap, one of those wet napkins from Swiss Chalet. He used them to clean his keyboard and mouse._

"_Here. Wash your face." Itachi handed it to him._

_Neji tore it open and washed the blood off his face. That poor kid. That lip looked like it needed stitches too._

"_I'm going to take you to the hospital." Itachi told him, standing up._

"_N-No..." He gasped, his eyes looking at him in fear. "Don't tell anyone...Please..."_

_Itachi stared at him. This kid was being abused, and he knew it. Yet, he didn't want anyone to find out._

_Itachi sighed and nodded slowly. "All right. I won't tell. But you can come to me anytime, remember that."_

_Neji nodded._

.oOo.

Itachi knocked on Neji's apartment door. The building he lived in was pretty damn shabby, but also in the building were young adults who were finding a cheap place to stay while they went to college or university.

He knocked again, this time more urgently. Hinata stood by his side, looking very worried.

Itachi sighed. "Neji, open up. It's Itachi. Hinata's here too. Let us in."

A few seconds later, the lock on the door clicked. The door didn't open, but Itachi figured that if Neji just locked the door, he wasn't welcome. But if he just opened it...

Itachi put his hand on the doorknob and turned it. The door swung open, revealing Neji sitting on his couch/bed staring out the window. He and Hinata stepped into the apartment. Hinata closed the door, looking around, her eyes wide with surprise. It was as if she couldn't believe Neji was living in a place like this.

Itachi sat down beside Neji. "So Hiashi destroyed you."

Neji looked at me. His silver eyes were laced with anger. "Yes."

"Are you going to stand for this?"

Neji looked away. He took a few seconds to answer.

"No." He whispered. "But at the same time, I wonder if it's even worth it."

"What do you mean?" Itachi asked.

"I...don't really want to be an actor anymore."

Itachi sighed. "In the future, people will look down on you as an actor who quit acting just so he could do drugs. Do you honestly want that?"

Neji looked at him again, his eyes laced with sorrow that time.

"I know." He said softly. "But...how can I fight back?"

"Prove your innocence." Itachi told him. "Do whatever it takes. Trash Hiashi. I don't care how you do it. Whatever you do, Neji, I'll back you up."

"But..." Neji trailed off. "You know what he did."

"I do."

"You'll get the police and child protection agencies involved. They'll take me away from Hiashi and I'll never see you, or any of my friends again."

"You can stay with me then." Itachi stated.

Neji looked at him, shock apparent in his expression.

"Just until you're old enough to look after yourself." Itachi added.

"Why? Why would you do that?"

Itachi looked at him. "You're like a brother to me, Neji. I will defend you with my life if I had to."

Neji blinked in confusion.

"Neji?"

Neji turned towards Hinata.

"You...I..." Hinata struggled to find the words. "I want to run away too..."

Neji continued to look surprised.

"Hinata has been placed in a movie that makes the movie you were placed in look G-rated." Itachi stated.

"WHAT?" Neji cried.

Hinata pulled out the script again and tossed it to Neji. Neji only had to skim the first page before he got the picture.

"What the hell is that bastard thinking?" Neji cried. "Putting a sixteen year old girl in a movie like THIS? This isn't show business, this is...this is..."

"Sick? Horrid? Disgusting? Disturbing?" Itachi threw out words.

Neji shook his head. "None of those fit. I can't find a word, damn it!"

"Violating? Sickening?"

"Child pornography?"

Neji looked at Hinata with shock. Even Itachi was surprised. He didn't even think such an innocent girl could use words like that.

"That's...exactly what it is." Neji stated. "It's disgusting."

"So I'm going to quit too." Hinata stated. "I'm...I'm going to do what you did and throw Hiashi aside." She looked up at him. "Can I come to your school, Neji?"

Neji stared at her for a moment. Then he smiled. "Yeah. Sure."

**A/N: If this chapter looks shaky, it's because originally it was in first person point of view with Itachi. I changed it to third person so the story would look a bit better because I changed it so every time it was in first person, that was Tenten's point of view.**


	12. Chapter 12: The Battle Begins

**A/N: Sorry I've been away for so long! This one's a short chapter, but hey, it's an update. The next one will come ASAP!**

Perfect

Chapter 12: The Battle Begins

"Remember that asshole that attacked us?" Ino cried when I sat down at the cafeteria table.

I thought about that for a moment.

"He walked up to our picnic table after we saw that movie!"

"Oh yeah." I remembered that asshole now.

"He completely trashed Neji on TELEVISION!" Ino cried.

I blinked in surprise. Why did it take me this long to know?

"He was on ETK, and just started trash talking Neji!" Ino cried, explaining why I never found out: because I don't watch Entertainment shows.

"What did he say?" Sakura asked. Even Sasuke looked concerned.

Ino opened her mouth.

"If you really want to know..." Neji practically materialized behind me. I gawked at him. He was so quiet! "Hiashi said I was a defiant teenager, and I ran away from home to go to my druggie friends, and I've been mentally disturbed since my father died."

"HE DID WHAT?" I screeched. "Oh no he didn't!"

"Sit down, Tenten." Neji told me. I didn't even realize I had stood up. "Don't worry, okay? Itachi's going to do everything he can to fix everything. Also, I want you to meet someone." Neji turned his head towards the pillar that kept the ceiling of the cafeteria up. There stood a girl, leaning shyly against it, trying to hide, but at the same time trying to look interested.

"This is my cousin, Hinata. You've seen her before, but now you get to meet her in person." Neji stated.

Hinata stepped shyly into view, tapping her index fingers together.

"Um...H-Hi..." Hinata said softly.

"Hi, Hinata!" Naruto said with a grin.

Hinata flushed at the attention.

"Don't be shy!" Ino stood up and gently grabbed her shoulder. "Sit down with us!" She pushed her towards the table, getting her to sit down. Neji took the seat across from me.

"So why are you here, Hinata?" I asked.

"U-Uh...um..." Hinata bit her lip. "I-I ran away t-too..."

"Well good for you!" Sakura said with a smile.

Sasuke looked up. "I think that ass is going to do something else, though. I'm not sure what, but I think he will."

"I don't doubt it." Neji stated. "Neither does Itachi. He's going to defend us."

Sasuke smirked. "That sounds like my brother. He's funny that way."

"Huh?" Sakura looked at him.

"He's so protective sometimes. It's so strange, and yet, it's so Itachi that I can't question it."

Neji nodded. "Yeah that sounds like him."

.oOo.

_CRASH!_

Itachi leapt up from his desk. Caught off guard, he backed away from the intruder.

"Where's my daughter, Uchiha?" Hiashi roared.

"Probably at school." Itachi said, as if this was the most obvious answer.

"You and I both know that she damn well isn't at school!" Hiashi roared. "Now where is she?"

"Mr. Hyuuga, that's enough."

Itachi looked up at the new arrival. He was a cop.

"Mr. Uchiha, I hope you can understand that we have nothing but concern for Miss. Hyuuga who was last seen leaving this building with you." The officer stated. "Unless you can take us to her now, you will be arrested."

Itachi quickly ran over his options. Those kids needed him. He couldn't just abandon them in favour of not being arrested. They trusted him. He had to follow through with that trust. He couldn't abandon them.

"Hinata Hyuuga came with me of her own free will. She is currently attending the same school as her cousin Neji, and I assure you she is perfectly safe." Itachi told the officer.

"Mr. Uchiha, Miss. Hyuuga is not an ordinary citizen of Konoha. She is very well known, and her father needs reassurance as to her whereabouts."

Itachi sat down in his chair again. "I will not tell you their location, as they wish it remains secret. Just understand: They are perfectly safe."

"Itachi Uchiha, you are hereby under arrest for failing to oblige to a police request, and, for kidnapping Hinata Hyuuga." The officer pulled out his handcuffs. "You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can be used with or against you in a court of law..."

The rest of the rights got lost in Itachi's mind as he was thrown in the handcuffs. His cell phone rang as he was being lead out of the room, making his heart leap. It was the ringtone he used if Neji called.

"Wait, that's Neji." Itachi stated. "I swear, it's Neji."

Hiashi grabbed the phone and flipped it open. "Neji?"

"Mr. Hyuuga, put it on speaker phone if you don't mind." The officer told him.

Hiashi did as he was told and placed it on the desk.

_Itachi? Are you there?_ Neji asked.

"I'm being arrested Neji." Itachi stated.

_WHY?_

"I'm being arrested for kidnapping Hinata." Itachi stated.

_WHAT?_

"Mr. Hyuuga, we are looking for Hinata Hyuuga." The officer stated. "Do you know of her whereabouts?"

_Yes. She's with me._

"Is she harmed in any way?"

_No. Of course not. She's fine._

"Let me speak to her."

There was a few seconds of silence.

_H-Hello?_

"Miss. Hyuuga?"

_Y-Yes?_

"I am an officer from Konoha police force. Itachi is being detained for your kidnapping."

_He didn't kidnap me! I went with him!_

"Has he hurt you in any way?"

_No! Let him go! He hasn't done anything wrong!_

"Miss. Hyuuga, we are only concerned for your safety."

_Then don't arrest Itachi! If you do, I'll have to go back to my father! HE'S the one you should be arresting!_

"Hinata, don't say stuff like that! I have been nothing but a father to you!" Hiashi cried.

_Shut up, you ass hole! I hate you! You're not my father!_

"Can you swear to the innocence of Itachi Uchiha?"

_Yes. He never kidnapped me. He's never harmed me in any way. Please let him go._

"Miss. Hyuuga, can I get you to come to Mr. Uchiha's office? I would like to speak to you."

_S-Sure..._

"Bring Neji too." Itachi told her.

_Y-Yeah..._

Itachi sighed as the line clicked. He grabbed the phone and flipped it shut. Things were getting too complicated now. Even so, he had a feeling that now that Hiashi had involved the police, he wouldn't get his daughter and nephew back. In fact, he'd probably lose Hanabi too.

.oOo.

"We're going too." I said sharply to Neji as he walked from the school, Hinata at his side. The entire group was following him, regardless of his protests.

"You've been involved enough." Neji stated. "I don't want to involve you any more than I have."

"Hell no!" I cried. "We're going!"

"Yeah!" Naruto cried, pumping his fist in the air.

"This isn't a war, Naruto!" Sasuke cried. "This is serious shit!"

"I'm dead serious, Teme!" Naruto growled.

Neji sighed. "Please." He looked at the group, his eyes pleading. "This is between myself, Hinata and Hiashi. Please, let us do this alone."

I bit my lip. "But Neji…We're your friends."

"I know." Neji gave me a smile that melted my heart. "And I appreciate your concern. But this is something Hinata and I must do. Please. I will give you the details tomorrow."

I glared at him.

"Neji, my _brother_ is involved in this." Sasuke stated, his onyx eyes sharp. "I will not stand by and let my brother be arrested!"

"Sasuke, you can't do anything. Hinata and I can." Neji stated honestly. "Believe me, I will not let Itachi get arrested for kidnapping Hinata!"

Hinata shook her head. "Neither will I."

"Please, all of you," Neji scanned the group. "Let us do this by ourselves."

I sighed, but nodded. This was important to Neji. I knew it was. As I watched his dark brown hair swish behind him, determination in his stride, I knew that whatever it was, Neji too did not want to see Itachi go to jail for a crime he didn't commit.

.oOo.

Hiashi sat over in the corner looking irritable. The officer was very calm, regardless of the tension in the room. Itachi merely stood, feeling the officer's hands on his wrists where the handcuffs were biting into his skin. His ankles were beginning to ache from standing for so long.

Then, the door opened, and Neji walked in, Hinata right behind him.

Hinata's eyes widened at the sight of the silver handcuffs around Itachi's wrists.

"Please, you can't arrest him…" Hinata whispered. "He hasn't done anything wrong…"

Neji put a comforting hand on her shoulder. She trembled slightly. Neji glanced in Hiashi's direction. It took everything he had not to shiver.

Hiashi's lips were curled upwards in a smirk, daring him to say something. The look in his eyes basically told him to back off, because he had already won.

Neji gritted his teeth and. He was prepared to fight.

_You give up Hiashi._ He thought, glaring into Hiashi's cocky eyes. _I will win. Just watch me._ He turned away before Hiashi had the chance to change his expression.

.oOo.

I could barely sleep that night. I was worried about Neji and Itachi. I desperately wanted to know what was happening. The few times I did fall asleep were plagued with nightmares of the battle that went on at the park, and then some. I saw Neji being beaten to a pulp by Hiashi, Hinata screaming at the top of her lungs and Itachi trapped behind bars unable to do anything.

Then I would jump awake from my sleep in terror and attempt to steady my breathing. All in all, I had the worst night's sleep I had ever had that night.

.oOo.

"What happened?" Sasuke demanded, standing up the second Neji came into view.

Neji motioned for him to sit down. He had dark circles under his eyes, signalling he hadn't had a better night's sleep than I had.

Hinata sat down at the table as Neji took a breath to begin explaining.

"Itachi was taken to the police station last night. He was interrogated, and then charged with kidnapping. He's scheduled to go to court in the next month." Neji's voice was filled with remorse and anger. His hands looked like they were shaking.

Sasuke clenched his fists. "I thought you said you were going to protect him!"

"Sasuke, I tried." Neji stated. "But I already had a feeling this was going to be taken to court. Sasuke, I swear to you, your brother will not take one step into jail."

Sasuke whipped up and grabbed Neji by the front of his shirt. "If my brother ends up in jail, it's on your head. Got it, Hyuuga?" He hissed.

Neji nodded. "Yeah. I know."

Sasuke let go of Neji's shirt and left the cafeteria. Neji collapsed into a chair and ran a hand through his hair.

"Neji, don't fret." Hinata stated. "We'll win."

Neji sighed.

"We have too much against Hiashi. We will win."

He nodded. "All right."

I watched Neji carefully. He looked like he had all of his hopes and dreams crushed, and there wasn't anything left for him. In a nutshell, he looked like crap.

Neji sighed and let his head fall onto his crossed forearms. Just faintly, I heard him murmur four distinct words.

"And so we go."

**A/N: Whew. I actually had this chapter half written for awhile. It's a short one, but I didn't know where else to go with it. **

**POP QUIZ.**

**Neji loves quoting things in this story. If you can tell me what Neji quoted when he said 'And so we go', you win a virtual cookie. I have plenty, so many people can win!**

**I'll give you a hint though: It's a book series.**

**The answer: In the next chapter!**


	13. Chapter 13: Neji's War

**A/N: Here's the next chapter! By the way, from now on the whole story is going to be in Tenten's point of view, but whenever it's in someone elses point of view, it'll be in third person.**

**And the answer to the pop quiz of the last chapter.**

"**And so we go" is a quote straight from the book series known as **_**Pendragon**_**, written by D.J. MacHale. Congratulations to WolfRunner326 for getting it right!**

**This chapter goes out to: DarkAnonymous324, glitterthorn, nejitenten4evr, WolfRunner326, xBitterSweetDreamsx, Katarina Wolffe.**

Perfect

Chapter 13: Neji's War

For the next few days, I watched Neji carefully. I could see that whatever it was that was happening was taking its toll on him. The shadows under his eyes continued to deepen, and he never smiled. He stopped giving input in drama class. Whenever they did a skit, his performances were deteriorating to the point where I just knew his heart wasn't in it anymore. I couldn't figure it out. And then he got a part in a skit where he was portraying either anger, or sadness, and he pulled it off with aplomb. Anything else, he just wasn't in it.

I thought it was just a phase, but over the next week, it just seemed to be getting worse and worse. The shadows under his eyes were gone, but he still held the appearance of a black cloud hanging over the top of his head. His silver eyes had lost their light, and he began wearing darker clothes and at the same time, stopped caring about how he presented himself. He left his hair messy and unkempt on most days, and his nails were chewed off to the skin, and then some. His fingertips were covered in scabs and peeling skin.

I wasn't stupid. Something was terribly wrong with Neji. I didn't know what it was, but I was determined to find out. When I came into school the next day to confront him, Neji never showed up. I looked to Hinata who was beginning to show the same symptoms of anxiety Neji had shown, only she showed it more. She constantly fidgeted with her hands and chewed her lip. I could only imagine the cankers she probably had lining her cheeks and mouth.

I waited patiently for Neji's return. Three days. He never came.

Finally, I decided enough was enough and immediately confronted Hinata.

"Hinata, where's Neji?" I asked.

Hinata fidgeted with her hands again, chewing her lip.

"Hinata, please." I begged. "I'm worried for him."

"He's…he's at home." She stated. "He locked himself in his bedroom on Sunday and since then he's refused to come out."

"Wait, is he back at…"

Hinata nodded slowly. "We're both living with my father again. Neji and Hiashi haven't been on good terms at all. They've scuffled several times now, and on Sunday it was so bad, Neji locked himself in his bedroom and since then, he's refused to come out."

"How long?" I whispered.

"How long we've been back with Hiashi?"

I nodded.

"A few weeks now." Hinata stated.

Right on schedule. Neji's anxiety had been building up for the last several weeks.

"He won't let anybody in?" I asked.

"Well, he lets me in." Hinata stated. "I bring him food and stuff."

"Hinata, I want to go see him. Today."

Hinata bit her lip. "I don't know if you can. I mean…Hiashi…"

Tenten sighed.

Hinata's phone rang at that moment. She opened it and held it to her ear.

"Hello?"

I faintly heard Neji's voice, but couldn't make out what he was saying. But I watched Hinata's eyes widen in fear.

"Hold on, Neji! I'll be there in a second!" Hinata hung up. "Tenten, help. Hiashi's going after Neji again."

I swear my heart stopped.

.oOo.

Neji sat on his bed, throwing a tennis ball at the wall. It was repetitive, but it kept his mind occupied. He would count the number of times he could consecutively throw the ball and catch it when it came back. He was now at one hundred and sixty eight.

The tennis ball thudded into his fingertip, making him flinch. He let the ball fall to the ground. He sighed and looked down at his hands. The tips of his fingers were shredded. When he was younger, he had a horrible habit of biting his fingernails because he was so nervous all the time around Hiashi. As he grew up, he realized it caused more pain than good and stopped the habit in favour of carrying himself more confidently to stand up to Hiashi.

Now, Hiashi held the power again. He could convict Itachi of kidnapping him. Not only that, but Neji would have to fess up to the courts and confess his haunting past of abuse if he wanted to help Itachi. Neji was certain that Hiashi thought he would never confess such a past, as he was famous and everyone would hear about it.

Thus, his nail biting habit returned full force.

Neji tasted blood and realized he had been chewing his nails again. Wait, what nails? He didn't have any nails. The only thing he was chewing was his fingertips.

A loud knocking noise dragged him from his thoughts.

"Neji! This is completely stupid! Open this door now!"

Neji didn't respond and simply stared at the door as calmly as he could. Yes, Hiashi was right. It was completely stupid. It was stupid that he had to hide in his bedroom from someone who was supposed to be his fatherly figure (like hell he was) inside a domain that was supposed to be his home. He would not open the door, because he did not want to get the shit beaten out of him like the countless times he had before. He wouldn't say he was scared, just wary. He had a door protecting him at this moment in time, so he didn't feel fear.

Neji's lips curled into a smirk. No, no fear. Triumph. He could hear Hiashi's voice on the other side of the door, screaming at him to 'Open the goddamned door' and attempting to shove it open.

_CRACK_

In an instant, Neji wiped the smile off of his face and leapt off the bed. He slammed his full weight against the door just as it began to open, causing it to slam shut once again. He heard a cry of pain and fury a second later. That was just too close. He didn't expect the lock to break.

Hiashi's furious cry rang through the door again as he began to attempt to break the door down. Neji dug his heels in, holding the door shut. His heart pounded through his chest. If Hiashi got through, he was finished. He could feel it. Hiashi was pissed.

Hiashi slammed the door again. The door bowed slightly, causing Neji to press himself against the door again. Hiashi was going to get through. Neji knew it. It was only a matter of time.

Neji turned around and pressed his back against the door, digging his heels in further. He pulled his cell phone from his pocket and dialled Hinata's number on speed dial, praying she didn't have it turned off, and that she wasn't in class.

She answered.

"Hinata! Help me! Hiashi's trying to break my door down."

He heard her prompt reply before she hung up. All he had to do now was hold off until Hinata got here.

What really sucked was how cruel the world was.

Neji stuffed the phone into his pocket just as Hiashi slammed into the door again. Neji yelped and was flung forward by the impact. Before he could throw himself on the door again, Hiashi marched into the room. Neji spun around and took a step away from him.

Hiashi's face was beet red and twisted with fury. Hiashi raised a finger. Neji didn't fail to notice the skin was shredded and bloody. Then Neji remembered when he slammed himself against the door that first time, and Hiashi had cried out in pain. So he had trapped his fingers in the door.

Awesome.

Hiashi's finger still pointed at him, trembling slightly. "You…" He whispered, baring his teeth and shaking his head. "You're done."

Neji had never been so scared in his life.

Hiashi took one step towards him. Neji watched him carefully, taking a slightly crouched stance straight from the martial arts training he'd had growing up.

Hiashi lunged at him. Neji slid sideways and headed for the door. Hiashi grabbed him by the hair and pulled him back. Neji whipped around and slammed his fist into Hiashi's face, and then kept pounding.

Hiashi grabbed Neji's fist. Neji whipped up his other fist and drilled it into Hiashi's gut. He grunted and Neji attempted to pull from his grasp.

Hiashi threw him to the ground and pinned him there. Neji got one hand free and drilled the heel of it into Hiashi's face. He then turned towards the hand that held his other hand and bit down. Hard.

Hiashi roared in pain and released him. Neji got up and ran from the room, gasping and fighting tears. He ran down the stairs, and heard Hiashi following him.

Neji ran into the kitchen and without hesitating, he grabbed a knife from the knife block and held it up just as Hiashi ran into the kitchen.

"You keep the hell away from me…" Neji whispered, holding it up. He was backed into a corner. He didn't want to have to use the knife, but if he had to…

Hiashi laughed. "Are you going to kill me, Neji? I'm your uncle!"

Neji didn't respond to that. He continued to stare into Hiashi's evil face.

.oOo.

"Here!" Hinata cried, turning into a driveway.

I had to say, this was the most amazing house I had ever seen. I couldn't believe Neji lived here. Actually, I could, seeing as he was a famous actor and all.

Hinata shoved the door open.

"NEJI!" She shrieked.

I followed her into the house. Everything was so quiet.

"Hinata!" Neji cried.

I turned towards the voice, realizing that Hinata had just gone upstairs. I ran down another hallway and saw Hiashi standing in a doorway. Hiashi turned around upon hearing my approach. As he did, I saw Neji backed up against a wall, holding a knife in his hand.

"Tenten! Get out of here!" Neji cried.

I stopped in my tracks as I met Hiashi's gaze. This was an evil man. I could see it in his eyes. They held nothing but cruelty.

"Father, please that's enough!" Hinata cried, tears streaming down her face. She stood beside me, every part of her shaking violently.

"Oh?" Hiashi raised an eyebrow. "Well if you hate it so much, why don't you go join your cousin over there!"

Hinata looked at Neji and immediately ran towards him. In an instant, Hiashi grabbed onto his daughters arm and pulled her back. Hinata shrieked.

I didn't even think.

"GET YOUR HANDS OFF HER!" I roared, putting Hiashi into a chokehold. The good news was, he let Hinata go. The bad news was, he trained his fury onto me.

"TENTEN!" Neji cried.

A hand slammed into the side of my head. I went sprawling on the ground, my vision going dark for a second. I literally saw stars. Before I could even recover, I felt another sharp impact, this one on my ribs. I whimpered and waited for the next impact, but all I felt were the vibrations of another scuffle breaking out.

I opened my eyes to see Neji kick Hiashi square in the chest and sending him sprawling across the floor. Hinata helped me to my feet.

"Hinata, call the police, please." Neji stated.

Hinata ran off and did as she was asked.

Hiashi stood up again and gave Neji a really evil look. I don't mean death glare either. I mean evil. Narrowed eyes, evil smirk, the whole shebang. The only thing he didn't do was break out in maniacal laughter.

"Neji, Neji, Neji." Hiashi stated, sounding disappointed. "Do you really want to lose everything you've worked for all of your life?"

"No." Neji growled. "Why do you think I'm fighting you?"

Hiashi's evil smirk was wiped off of his face a second later. "Put down the knife."

Neji stayed where he was.

"Put down that knife." Hiashi said more sternly.

"No." Neji growled, his voice barely a whisper.

Hiashi took a step forward. "BOY! PUT DOWN THAT KNIFE NOW!"

"NO!" Neji cried.

Hiashi grabbed for him, and I wanted desperately to close my eyes. But I couldn't.

"LET GO OF ME!" Neji cried.

He did the only thing he could to protect himself at that moment. He stabbed Hiashi with the knife, right between the ribs.

Hiashi staggered backwards in shock, clutching the knife sticking out of his chest. He looked down at it and then looked back at Neji before collapsing to the ground. I knew just by anatomy that Neji had deliberately missed his heart, but at the same time still struck a vital organ, mainly Hiashi's lungs.

Neji took a few shaky steps backwards, away from the scene. I reached out for him and touched his shoulder. He flinched and looked towards me, his silver eyes wide and scared.

"Tenten…" he whispered. "Oh god…" He collapsed, falling to his knees and burying his face in his hands. Agonized wails tore from his lips, and I wrapped my arms around him, helping him off the floor. He followed my lead, burying his face in my shoulder and wrapping his arms tight around me.

I pulled him from the hallway and into a room that looked like a living room. I sat down on the couch and held him tightly.

His hands balled into fists on my back.

"Tenten…" He whispered. "I'm so scared…"

I held him tighter and rubbed his back. "It'll be okay. I swear to you, it'll be okay."

"I killed him!" Neji sobbed.

"No, no…" I whispered. But at the same time, I couldn't deny it. Hiashi had a knife in his chest. The chances of him dying at this rate were very high.

Hinata ran into the room. "Neji!" Her voice was high pitched with anxiety. "You stabbed him!"

I waved my hand at her. "He came at him first." I stated. "Self defence. I saw it all."

Hinata seemed to relax just a little bit after that.

.oOo.

By the time the mishmash of emergency vehicles showed up at the front door, Neji had relaxed enough so that he wasn't wailing, but he still had a lot of trouble communicating.

"All right," The officer stated. "Please sit down, Mr. Hyuuga."

Neji did as he was told.

Hinata was quivering slightly while I just watched calmly. I was still totally stunned by what I had seen today, but I knew that Neji needed someone who was still level headed to tell his story for them.

"Can someone tell me what happened here?" The officer asked.

Hinata spoke up first.

"H-He got in a fight with his uncle and my father." Hinata whispered. "They fight a lot. He called me at school and asked me for help so I came home with Tenten to try to stop the fight."

"And Neji picked up a knife and stabbed him?"

I shook my head. "No. I'm sure Neji originally picked up the knife to defend himself. Hiashi got stabbed when he approached Neji and tried to grab him again. Neji just did whatever he could do to defend himself."

The officer nodded. "Do you have any other siblings?"

Hinata nodded. "Hanabi. My younger sister. She's at school right now."

"Do you have any grandparents you can stay with?"

Hinata shook her head.

"Okay. How about family friends? Is there someone you trust above all others?"

I watched Hinata's gaze harden slightly. I immediately knew the name she was going to say just before it passed her lips.

"Yes." Hinata stated. "Itachi Uchiha."

The officer looked up from his notes. "Itachi Uchiha?"

"I know what you're thinking." Hinata stated, her gaze still sharp. "Itachi was charged with kidnapping Neji and I. He never did kidnap us. We went willingly to him because we trust him. Please, believe me."

The officer sighed and picked up his radio. I heard him say they were going to take us down to the station. The officer then turned to me.

"Are you related?" He asked.

I shook my head. "I'm a school friend."

The officer nodded. "We're taking these two down to the station."

"Can I come?" I asked.

The officer nodded again. "We'll contact your parents and we'll let them know."

I shook my head. "Please, leave that up to me. I'm worried they're going to think I'm in trouble." I let out a weak chuckle.

The officer nodded in understanding. "Very well."

I turned towards Neji and pulled him off the couch. He looked at me again, his silver eyes dull with something I couldn't identify. I could only imagine what he was going through right now. I could never understand what he was feeling. The only thing I knew was that I could be there for him and give him some support in this hard, confusing time.

"I'm here, Neji." I whispered.

Neji nodded. "I know." He whispered back.

We walked out to the police cruiser. Hinata was already crawling into it. Neji's warm hand held mine tightly, not letting go as we walked side by side to the vehicle. As soon as we were inside and seated, Neji lay his head on my shoulder. I put my arm around him. On the other side, Hinata leaned over and wrapped her arms around him as well.

At that moment, I think all three of us cried silent tears in response to everything that happened.


	14. Chapter 14: Big Brother Itachi

Perfect

Chapter 14: Big Brother Itachi

The phone call came just as Itachi was getting out of the shower. He held the towel around his waist and picked up the phone.

"Hello?"

_Itachi Uchiha?_

"Yes?"

_This is constable Fujiwara calling from Konoha Police Services._

"All right."

_There's been an incident._

Itachi tensed. He instantly began to worry about Sasuke and his parents. What if they had gotten in a car crash? What if they were…

Itachi stopped his train of thought.

"What kind of incident?" Itachi asked.

_Neji Hyuuga got into a fight with his uncle Hiashi Hyuuga. It ended when Neji stabbed Mr. Hyuuga with a knife. I have reason to believe it was self-defence, so I don't think there's much to worry about._

"Okay." Itachi said faintly. "So, why are you calling me?"

_Mr. Uchiha, Miss Hinata Hyuuga stated that you were the only person she and Neji trusted. I am requesting that you come down to the police station immediately._

"All right. I'll be there. Give me a few minutes." Itachi stated, all business. He only took the time to say a goodbye and hung up the phone. He quickly got dressed and threw on his shoes before taking off out the door.

.oOo.

Hinata, Neji and I sat in an empty interrogation room of the police station. Neji still leaned against my shoulder.

There was a sharp knock on the door, bringing us all out of our stupor. Neji lifted his head off my shoulder just as the door opened. An officer walked in with a familiar face just behind him.

"Itachi!" Hinata cried, jumping to her feet and throwing her arms around him.

Itachi returned the embrace, and looked up at Neji and I. He offered a warm smile.

"How are you doing, Neji?" He asked.

Neji merely gave him a half-hearted shrug.

I watched as Itachi questioned Hinata next. I could see the concern in his eyes. It wasn't that I didn't believe what Sasuke had always said about his brother being someone who really did care. It was just that I had a hard time believing it.

But now, as I watched Itachi interact with Neji and Hinata, I knew that Itachi was probably the most gentle and caring man I had ever seen. His dark eyes were similar to Sasuke's, and yet, they were very different. Sasuke's were always blank, but Itachi's held a kind of reassuring warmth that made you want to trust him. He had a kind smile, and always seemed to want to do everything he could to help.

Honestly, if he had said he puts long hours in at the local orphanage, or cooked food for homeless people, I would've believed him. In fact, I wouldn't have been surprised.

"Itachi, Hanabi gets out of classes at three." Hinata stated.

"Oh, your little sister?" Itachi asked.

"Yes."

Itachi nodded. He looked towards the police officers. "If I may, I have a place they can stay until further notice. I know you probably don't trust me, in fact I was astounded you called me, but I can honestly say, and testify under oath if need be, I never kidnapped these kids. They came to me for help, and I gave it to them."

Hinata and Neji were nodding at everything he was saying.

I merely watched the whole exchange. I couldn't do anything to help the three of them. However, I did breathe a sigh of relief when we all left in one group and jumped into Itachi's car.

"Neji, I'm going to drop you off at my place, all right?" Itachi stated from the front seat of the car.

Neji merely gave him a grunt.

"Tenten, will you stay with him?"

"Of course."

Itachi nodded. "Hinata, you and I will go pick up your sister."

"Yeah."

"You'll have to show me the way, because I have no idea where Hanabi's school is."

.oOo.

Upon arrival at Itachi's house, I couldn't help but be awestruck. Yeah, Sasuke had said he was probably rich, but his house was just as big as Neji's, if not just a little bit smaller. What did make it awesome however, was the size of the yard.

Itachi stopped the car and pulled a key off his key ring. He handed me the key and let Neji and I out. I lead Neji up to the front door and put the key in the lock, opening the door to Itachi's house. I have to say, I was very surprised when I opened the front door. The inside of the house was enormous, but at the same time, it was simple. If it wasn't for the size of the house, I would've said that this was just any ordinary house, like mine.

"Itachi doesn't believe in luxury."

I whipped towards Neji. It was the first coherent sentence I'd heard him say since…well…you know.

"What?" I asked.

Neji looked at me. "Itachi doesn't believe in luxury. That's why all of his things are so simplistic."

I nodded slowly, looking around the house. "But he can afford it, right?"

Neji nodded. "Yeah. He can afford it, but that doesn't mean he wants it."

I followed Neji into Itachi's living room. It was a beautiful living room, really. Everything matched up to the point where you could swear it's straight out of a home decorating magazine.

"It's so…simple. Yet at the same time, it's beautiful." I stated.

Neji nodded. "He did it all himself. This entire house."

My jaw dropped. "I thought he was an animator, not an interior designer."

"He is." Neji stated. "But sometimes he has free time on his hands."

I nodded slowly to myself. My eyes widened as I saw a swathe of blue in the backyard. "Wow! Look at the pool!"

"Tenten."

"Huh?" I turned towards Neji.

I gasped in surprise as he wrapped his arms around me. He held me close, a hand on the back of my head.

"Thank you." He said softly. "For everything."

I stood there like a brick wall for a few seconds. Then I wrapped my arms around him.

"It's not a problem." I replied.

And we just stood there, me with my head against his chest, the sound of his gentle heartbeat in my ear.

.oOo.

"Take a left here."

Itachi did as he was told, following Hinata's directions to Hanabi's school. In his mind, he ran over the things he could say to Hanabi to reassure her. He had never met Hanabi before, so he was concerned about how she would take him. He hoped Hinata would help reassure her.

"There. It's right there."

Itachi raised his eyebrows. Now this, was the fanciest school he had ever seen. It was beautiful.

"You and Neji went to school here too?" Itachi asked, pulling into the parking lot through the gate.

Hinata nodded.

"Sheesh," Itachi stared around at the environment. "This looks more like a university than an elementary school."

"Really?" Hinata raised her eyebrows.

Itachi nodded. "The university I went to was really high end. Beautiful campus. I spent hours outside, just enjoying the environment I was in." he parked the car and turned it off. "So, is she out of school now?"

Hinata nodded. "Yeah. She should be."

Itachi and Hinata watched the children mill around for a little bit. It was really hard to pick out anybody in the crowd. They just seemed to know where they were going.

"Does Hiashi have a designated spot to pick her up?" Itachi asked.

Hinata shrugged. "I really don't know."

Itachi opened the car door. "Right then. Let's get out and ask the office if we have to."

Hinata nodded and opened the door.

Itachi followed Hinata wherever she went, knowing full well he could never find his way around this place.

"I think I'll try the place where he always picked Neji and I up." Hinata stated. She began walking towards the side of the building. Itachi followed her, trying not to gawk at the spectacular building.

"There she is!"

Itachi snapped to attention as Hinata waved over her sister. A girl with loose, dark brown hair began walking slowly towards them. Itachi thought she was probably in eighth grade, though he had imagined her to be quite a bit younger.

"Hinata?" Hanabi seemed surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"Hanabi, this is Itachi." Hinata pointed to Itachi.

Itachi gave her a wave.

"S-Something happened to dad, so he's going to look after us for awhile."

Hanabi frowned. "What happened?"

Hinata immediately began to stutter. She looked to Itachi for help.

Itachi sighed. He didn't want to give too much away, for fear of telling a story that wasn't his.

"Neji and your father got in another fight." Itachi finally said.

Hinata nodded. "Yeah."

Hanabi's frown disappeared, turning into a look of just plain disappointment. "Again?" She asked.

Hinata nodded. "Our father didn't get out unscathed this time. Neji's okay, but dad's in the hospital."

"What did Neji do?"

Hinata bit her lip.

"I don't think that's Hinata's story to tell." Itachi stated. "Nor is it mine. Neji's back at my place, so if you want to ask him, ask him then. But, he's pretty messed up right now so I think it would be best to just wait for him to tell you himself."

Hanabi pouted for a moment, her brow creasing as she processed the information. Then she nodded.

"Okay."

Itachi sighed in relief. That was one thing out of the way.

Hinata began to walk back towards Itachi's car. Itachi quickly took the lead and pulled open the car door. Hinata did the same on her side, and Hanabi expertly leapt over the seat and shimmied into the back, buckling the seatbelt there. She didn't even step on the cushions. What an acrobat.

.oOo.

I suppose we stood there in the middle of the living room for longer than I had originally thought.

The front door opened, and Itachi, Hinata and Hanabi walked into the house.

Neji released me immediately, and a second later, I shivered. I assumed I had been in Neji's arms for the last ten minutes at least. Maybe even longer. At first, it had just been a comforting embrace, Neji saying "thank you", and me saying "you're welcome". But after the first few minutes, I began to get comfortable in Neji's arms. The sound of his heartbeat was soothing, and pretty soon I had closed my eyes. He held me tightly, his cheek resting on the top of my head. It had felt really good.

"Neji? Tenten?" Itachi called out.

"We're in here." I called out.

Itachi walked into sight, Hinata and Hanabi behind him.

Itachi gave Neji another warm smile. "Are you feeling any better?"

Again, Neji shrugged, glancing away from his cousins.

"What happened, Neji?" Hanabi asked.

I looked at Neji to see him stiffen slightly. He bowed his head and stared at his toes as if trying to find a way to explain just what had happened.

"Hiashi and I got in another fight." Neji stated. "I…Honestly thought he was going to kill me this time. I was afraid. I ran when I managed to get past him, and I pulled a kitchen knife on him."

Hanabi gasped, a hand going over her mouth. So she was smart enough to put two and two together.

"It's not what you think." Neji stated. "I only wanted to threaten him. I didn't actually want to use it. And then he went after Hinata and Tenten, so I tried to stop him. Then he came at me, and I stabbed him."

Hanabi's eyes were wider than saucers. "D-Did you kill him?"

"I don't know." Neji whispered.

I watched Neji carefully. I saw tears running down his face again. He made no move to wipe them away.

"I was so scared…" He whispered.

Hanabi looked away from Neji. I wish I knew what she was thinking. I wondered if Hanabi had also faced the brunt of Hiashi's abuse for her life.

"Tenten."

I looked up to see Itachi looking at me. He beckoned me out of the room. I followed him, understanding what he was doing. The Hyuuga's needed some time to work things out themselves. My comfort was one thing. Neji needed to know that his two cousins didn't blame him for what happened. I hoped Hanabi could give that to him.

"You have such an amazing house, Itachi." I stated as he lead me into the backyard.

"Hm." Itachi sat down on one of the lawn chairs. "Thank you, Tenten."

"It's so big, yet it's so simple." I added. "I could totally live here."

Itachi coughed. "Be my guest. I'll swap this house out any day."

I looked at him in surprise. Then I remembered what Neji had said.

"Neji told me you didn't believe in luxury."

Itachi closed his eyes for a second then shook his head. "No. I don't. In fact, the only reason I have this house is because it's closer to where I work." He sighed. "I don't like it here, really."

I looked at him in surprise. His dark gaze met mine.

"I'm just one person living in a huge house. It's just me in there, every single day." He looked away from me. "Every step that I take echoes off the walls. It's so quiet and empty. It's a house big enough for a family of six, and it's just me living in there."

I looked out at the swimming pool that had been shut down for the year. It must look amazing in the summer time.

"It's lonely."

I looked back towards Itachi. His gaze had lost most of its warmth, replaced with sadness and sorrow.

"I start taking up miniscule tasks to cover up the silence." Itachi went on. "It gets really lonely, really fast. It makes me want to go out and buy things to hopefully occupy my mind and my time."

"Do you?" I asked.

Itachi sighed. "Why do you think everything inside the house looks neat and tidy? Earlier I revamped the whole house to make it look more comfortable. When I was finished, I realized I had made up the house as if I was waiting for family to walk in the front door. That just made me feel even worse. But I can't bring myself to get rid of everything again." He ran a hand through his hair. "So I occupied my mind, and filled the silence by playing music and cleaning as much as I could. It was always just a guise though."

"You're depressed…" I murmured without really thinking about it.

Itachi snorted. "Yeah. I am. I would lay in bed at night thinking that this was what happened to actors and actresses. They buy all of these nice things, a nice home, and at the end of the day they realize they're lonely. So they try to find something to fill the silence, mainly, they get married and have kids." He ran a hand across his face. "Then the divorce because it just doesn't work out.

"Not only that, but they still have all of this money so they continue to buy themselves nice things, and they realize that they're still not happy." Itachi sighed. "That's where drug problems come in. They need a way to escape and just let loose." He shook his head.

"Why?" I asked. "Would you do that, Itachi?"

Itachi shook his head. "No. Not me. I won't ever stoop that low. The only thing I really do is move back in with my parents whenever it gets to be too much. They don't mind. Sasuke's happy to have me back there whenever I can." There was a small smile on his face now.

"But why?" I asked. "Why do you feel that way?"

Itachi took a deep breath and sighed. "Isn't it obvious?" He looked at me. "Money doesn't buy happiness."

I blinked a few times. I'd heard that saying many times. I thought about the life I was living right now. Many people think having a lot of money to have so many nice things is just the life to live. It's luxury. But if what Itachi was saying was true, then that saying was more correct than I'd ever thought.

"What do you think makes you happy, Itachi?" I asked.

Itachi took a deep breath and sighed. "Well, I don't know about other people, but I know what would make me happy."

I waited for his answer.

"It's these simple, little things that money could never buy." Itachi stated. "Friends. Really close friends. Friends you can count on to be there whenever you need them. Friends to share a good laugh with on occasion. But that's just one of a few things.

"I would be happy if the world stopped hating. World peace. I don't want to just make myself happy, I want everyone to be happy. Too many people get killed every day because of racial disputes, wars…" He trailed off. "Look at the Holocaust. Hitler murdered so many people just because he hated them. They were different." Itachi ran a hand through his hair again. "If we could all just stop hating each other…" He whispered. "We could stop living in fear. We wouldn't need armies, or bombs. We wouldn't need to kill each other. I just don't understand." Itachi looked at me.

I breathed in sharply. His dark eyes were filled with this pain I had never seen before. He was like a child, but far more mature than that. I couldn't explain the look in his eyes.

"That's my biggest wish." Itachi stated. "Imagine, people of two different religions meeting up, not arguing about how they believe the world was created, and who's worshipping the superior god, but meeting up to understand what the religions are about. Learning about them so they could learn to respect just what it is they do. Don't you think that would be the world to live in?"

I thought about that. "I guess…if we all just accepted what each other believed…" I trailed off. I could see it. I could see Itachi's world. So many people mingling together, laughing and smiling. Racism gone, skin colour didn't matter. We were all equal. All the same.

I smiled at Itachi. "Yes. I think that would be wonderful."

Itachi smiled back at me.

Then my mind flashed to some jerk who wanted to disturb that wonderful peace. I frowned. "But, at the same time…"

Itachi looked at me.

"I think there'll always be people who want to be better than everyone else. Some people would never learn how to accept. It would be wonderful, yes it would, but it would take a long time, and everyone in the world would have to want to embrace that peace."

Itachi sighed, but nodded. "It's impossible. I know. But at the same time, if I could change the world right now…If I could speak up in every language of this world, I would change it for the better. I would."

"We're humans, Itachi." I stated. "I think most of us are programmed to be selfish."

Itachi scoffed. "I know."

"But I understand how you feel."

"Well thank you for that."

I nodded.

Itachi looked at his watch. "I think you should be getting home, huh?"

I nodded. "Yeah. I suppose so."

Itachi stood up and returned to the house. I followed him back to the living room where Hanabi and Hinata were both hugging Neji on the couch. Neji had an arm around both of them. I couldn't help but smile. I assumed everything would work out for them in the end.

"Listen up you three." Itachi stated. "I don't know how long you're going to be here for, but I think we should go pick up some stuff from your house. I have rooms for you all, so you can take your pick of them."

The three Hyuuga's nodded.

"Come on then." Itachi headed for the front door. "We're going to take Tenten home, and then we'll get you settled in."

I smiled internally. Everything Itachi said about being lonely in this house was pretty much going out the window now. Itachi would have Neji, Hinata and Hanabi to keep him company for however long they were staying. As a bonus, Neji, Hinata and Hanabi could all get away from Hiashi for that time.

It was a win-win situation.

In Hollywood movies, this was the time when things would go horribly wrong.

But alas, real life isn't a movie. Instead of things going in the most predictable, cliché way possible, life could send you, not either left or right where the tracks of cliché were, but straight off in a derail that would send the passengers into fits of laughter because they expected it to go left.

Yes, life was just awesome. You just had to wait and see.


	15. Chapter 15: Perfect

**A/N: I think I said in the last chapter that this story wasn't ending...Well, I have to say now that it is. This is the last chapter. I'm going through the rest of my incomplete stories one by one and finishing them ASAP because I can't consistently update them anymore. Now that it's summer, I'm totally free to do it, so yeah. As soon as I finish up the rest of my stories, no new ones are going to be posted until they are officially finished and sitting on my flash drive.**

**Even so, enjoy the final chapter! Thanks for staying with the story, guys! You're AWESOME!**

Chapter 15: Perfect

Time passed smoothly after Itachi took the three Hyuuga's in. Hiashi survived the stabbing with Neji and quickly started filing court complaints, however when all three of the Hyuuga's stated they wanted to stay with Itachi, nobody saw any reason to take it to court. I felt bad for Hiashi, but at the same time I felt as if he was getting his just desserts.

Neji had returned to his normal self, maybe even a bit more happy go-lucky than before. His acting in drama class shot back through the roof, and he even gained a part in a school play. Unbelievably, Sasuke and Naruto were in it too.

"Wait till you see Neji's part." Sasuke stated. "He is freaking _scary_."

Naruto nodded in agreement, his eyes as wide as saucers.

Neji simply chuckled.

"What part to you have?" Ino asked. "Ooh, is it the lead role?"

"No." Neji shook his head. "Of course not. I wouldn't take a lead role again. Not when there's others in the class that deserve it too."

"So what's your role?" Hinata asked.

"I'm the leads younger brother." Neji said simply.

"And he's totally freaking scary." Naruto added.

"We'll have to go see it then." Sakura stated.

And boy did we. As soon as the tickets came out, our circle of friends all got tickets to see the show. Even Itachi and Hanabi came to see it. We were all sitting in the drama room waiting for the play to start. In the pamphlet in my hand, there was a summary for the play I was about to be seeing. It was a supernatural story with demons, the devil and of course, Hell itself.

When the play opened, a battle scene began to play out in front of the crowd. A boy was fighting somebody wearing a black cloak. The black cloaked person went down in the first few seconds. Dialogue started in which I took note of a younger brother named Cole. It made no sense to me, seeing as Neji was supposed to be the younger brother.

When the next scene came on, I realized what I had missed. It was the younger versions of the two characters. Sure enough, I was right. Neji was the older version of the younger brother. One common trend I kept noticing was how Cole kept getting shown up by his older brother, Toby. Literally, Toby took all of the attention. Even I felt more inclined to watch Toby than Cole, played by Neji. I also discovered that Naruto's role was the captain of the Demon Defence League, as titled by me. He was the one who sent Toby out on those missions to defeat demons.

I didn't know what role Sasuke played until a few minutes into the story. Cole was home alone and doing his own thing when a voice started talking to him.

"Cole..."

Cole eventually clued into the whispers. The tech guys suddenly messed with the lighting, flicking lights on and off while playing thunder music. In the back, fog was pouring out from behind one of the curtains. Cole was flinching, cowering slightly. Then the flickering lights stopped. A red light had been turned on, and a choir was singing a very low, minor piece. It made my heart race, especially when three people walked out on stage, two cloaked in black and carrying sickles, and one between them also cloaked in black, except his robes were more ornate, and he didn't have a sickle.

Cole was panicking. I honestly felt scared for him as he tried scrambling away.

"Stop him!" The middle shaded man stated.

The two sickle bearing people walked forward and each grabbed one of Cole's arms. You can imagine the panic now. I felt Hinata grab onto my hand and squeeze it very painfully.

"Who are you?" Cole screamed. "What do you want with me?"

"Relax, Cole." The shaded man chuckled. "I just want to talk." He lowered his hood. I recognized Sasuke immediately, except there was something very different about him. Even in the red light, I could see that he had put in crimson contacts, turning his dark eyes bright red. He was also wearing a lot of face makeup, making him look, dare I say, completely and utterly perfect.

"What do you want?" Cole asked, his voice shaking.

Sasuke's character pulled a black chair over and placed it in the middle of the stage. "Come sit, Cole."

The two sickle guys let go of his arms. Cole stood there shaking.

"I insist..." Sasuke practically hissed in his lilting tone.

Cole stiffened and then began to walk forward. He sat down in the chair where he started slightly and continued to shake. I had a very bad feeling about this.

"You're brother is always showing you up, Cole..." Sasuke's character paced around him. I snuck a quick glance at my pamphlet, finding Sasuke's name and checking which character he was. He was the Devil. I assumed that the set was Hell.

The Devil continued to walk lazily around the chair. "And how does that make you feel?"

Cole shivered.

"It makes you hate him, doesn't it?" The Devil grinned. "No..._loathe_ him...Don't you want to get your parents attention?"

"Yes..." Cole whispered.

_No, no, no..._ I thought.

"I have a way for you to do that..."

Cole looked towards the Devil.

The Devil grinned. "All you have to do..." He leaned over and whispered something in Cole's ear. Cole's eyes widened slightly, and the lights dimmed and faded out. The silence in the theatre was unbelievable. When the lights came back on, the chair was gone, and so was Hell, Cole and the Devil.

Toby walked onto the set, being the older brother as usual. "Cole! Hellooo! Cole!" He looked around for his brother. "Where are you, brother? I'm off work, so I'll play video games with you if you want."

Cole never actually came back onto the stage. The story continued to follow Toby. Turns out, he had a girlfriend named Diane. In the next scene, Cole returned. He was pacing back and forth, and then Toby came on.

"There you are!" Toby exclaimed. "I've been looking for you."

Cole backed away quickly. "O-Oh it's just you..." He relaxed slightly. Then he tensed up and eyed his brother sharply. His brother had launched into a monologue and was talking about how sorry he was he couldn't spend any time with him.

Just then, I saw a metallic glint in Cole's hand. My eyes widened as Cole walked over to his brother. A fight erupted in which Cole succeeded in pinning Toby to the ground, holding a knife to his throat.

"C-Cole...Why?" Toby whispered.

Cole looked like he was fighting with himself. The lights suddenly turned red, that freaky music playing again.

The Devil appeared, standing up behind a box. "Do it."

"I...I can't..." Cole whispered. Toby was in tableaux, his eyes wide, staring at his brother.

"You must."

Cole shook his head slowly. "No. No, he's my brother. I can't!"

"He'll never show you up again."

"I don't care anymore!"

"Do you?"

"N-No...I won't kill my brother...This isn't the way!"

"Your parents think you're a mistake."

Cole's eyes widened as the Devil continued to speak.

"Your school marks pale in comparison to your brothers...Your parents are ashamed of you...Besides, he's the demon slayer you've always wanted to be..."

"NO! SHUT UP!" Cole cried, covering his ears. "I won't do it! I won't!"

"You will, Cole."

"NO! GO AWAY!" He shrieked.

Instantly the Devil disappeared again, the lights returned to normal and Toby began to move again.

"Cole?"

Cole booked it, running off stage as fast as he could.

Toby stood up slowly, looking frightened. "Cole?" He wandered off stage slowly, still calling his brother's name.

The lights went out again. When they came back on, Cole scrambled onto the stage from the opposite side he had left on. He tripped once, scrambling back to his feet, but just before he could get off the other side of the stage, a loud thump echoed through the area, and the lights turned red. Cole yelped, falling backwards and scrambling in the opposite direction. The two sickle goons came out of the direction he was backpedalling to, and grabbed him. The panic was so realistic I forgot I was sitting in a theatre. I wanted to go help him. I actually very nearly got out of my seat, but it was Hinata's hand that kept me in place.

"You broke your promise, Cole." The Devil yelled furiously.

"I'm sorry!" Cole cried.

The Devil swatted with his hand and in that instant, Cole fell to the ground sideways in the same direction as if he'd been slapped. The two goons picked him up again. The Devil then pointed at Cole who went tense instantly. A snare drum started pounding a dramatic rhythm in the back. The two goons let go of him. The Devil held his open palm towards Cole and slowly drew his hand towards himself. Cole began walking forward slowly, his eyes wide and terrified. The snare was getting louder, now accompanied by a bass drum and tam-tam. The Devil held his other hand out towards Cole, and a second later, the lights went out, the drums in the back stopping instantly.

Then a horrifying, agonized, terrified scream ripped through the drama room. Then it was silent. The lights didn't come on again. The silence in the theatre lasted for at least ten seconds, and when they realized there wasn't any more, they started to clap. The crowd lights came back on and I continued to sit in my seat in shock. I realized that scream had been Neji. I didn't know he could make a sound like that. Whispers were breaking out in the crowd as intermission progressed.

I sat in that chair for the entire fifteen minute intermission, processing what I had just seen. When the lights went out again, the stage lights came on to show Toby looking frightened. He was talking to his girlfriend about what had happened to Cole. What I gathered from it was a lot of confusion. In the next scene, Cole came back on. As I watched him look around, my breath caught in my throat. Now Neji was wearing red contacts. It suddenly hit me at that moment that the Devil had possessed Cole. I saw absolutely nothing good with that.

His parents came on, absolutely oblivious to this fact. The next part completely shocked me. Cole got into a huge argument with his parents, screaming at the top of his lungs. Then, possessed Cole killed both of them. The evil laugh that followed was unbelievable. I didn't know Neji could make such an evil sound. Guess he was better at playing the villain than I had originally thought. But now I totally knew what Sasuke had meant when he had said Neji's character was scary. He _was_ scary. I kept denying it, because it just wasn't Neji. But it was. It was Neji playing a bad character.

As the story went on, it played out like a Shakespearean tragedy. Toby didn't know that Cole was possessed. Cole actually killed his girlfriend before he began to put two and two together. Naruto's character figured it out first, and informed Toby that his brother was possessed by the Devil. Toby had to kill his younger brother in order to permanently defeat the Devil, because the Devil's physical body was inside Cole. If Toby killed Cole the same way he killed every other demon, mainly stake through the heart, he could defeat the Devil.

Toby was distraught, refusing to kill his brother. In the climactic event, Toby and Cole were face to face. We saw more of the evil Neji could play, but then, right when Cole was about to kill his brother, something happened. Cole started to choke and struggle, then the Neji I knew and loved was back.

"Toby, you have to kill me..." Cole whispered. "Please...I don't want this thing inside me..."

"Cole, no...No I won't kill you!"

"You're a demon slayer!" Cole struggle again, as if fighting an internal force. "He's trying to get out! I know I've always wanted to be the demon slayer, but don't you see? This is my chance!" Cole cried out. "Hurry! He's going to escape! Please, Toby! Kill me! I will die knowing I helped you defeat the most evil demon in the world. Besides, how can I live knowing these hands killed our parents? They killed Diane too. How could I go on, Toby?"

The two brothers continued to talk for a few more seconds. Finally, Toby stabbed his brother. The final heartbreaking scene played out before our eyes. Cole died slowly, but he was able to say a few things. Toby could too. Toby talked about how he had been such a terrible older brother, neglecting Cole as he grew up. He knew that Cole had always been envious of him, and mentioned several times that their parents were in fact proud of him.

At the end of the play, Cole died. But the last thing Toby said to him was "Say hi to mom and dad for me, okay?"

"Yeah." Cole breathed.

"And promise you'll wait for me."

"I promise..."

When the lights finally went out, the drama room erupted into cheers and applause. I stood up, not bothering to wipe the tears off my face as the cast came out on set and took their bows. When everyone left the room, we got the chance to meet the actors who acted in the show. Neji and the boy who played Toby were high fiving each other.

"It was an honour, Hyuuga." The actor stated.

Neji grinned. "Yeah. It was fun."

"You still freak me out every time you scream though."

Neji laughed. "Sorry."

"Neji!" Hinata cried. "You were so good!"

"Thanks."

Compliments oozed from every direction. Eventually, Neji just had to get away from it all. I saw him retreat and head out the door into the night. I followed him out, spotting him sitting on a bench out of the sights of the doors.

"Neji?"

Neji looked up in surprise. He was still wearing the red contacts which freaked me out slightly.

"You've still got the contacts." I stated, pointing at my eyes.

"Oh, sorry." Neji rubbed his forehead sheepishly. "I forgot I was wearing them. But now that you mention it, yeah I'm still wearing them. They're very uncomfortable, but the case for them is back in the drama room."

"Shall we go get it?"

Neji shrugged. "How many people are still in the halls?"

I stood up and jogged to the door, peeking inside. Everyone had pretty much scattered now.

"It's safe." I called to him.

Neji stood up and followed me back into the school. We headed into the drama room where I followed him backstage. He retrieved the contact case with a piece of masking tape depicting 'Neji' on it. I was kind of glad he didn't turn around when he took them out, simply because I was kind of grossed out by the sight of people touching their eyes. When Neji did turn around again, his eyes were back to the normal silvery colour.

"Better?" He asked.

I laughed. "Better."

Neji sighed, looking at the ground. "Want to take a walk?"

I blinked a couple of times. "Sure. Is everything all right?"

"Yeah. I just want to walk." Neji lead me back out of the drama room and out the doors again. Neji pulled out his cell phone and texted something before sliding it back into his pocket. The phone didn't ring, so I assumed he wasn't talking to someone via, cell phone because that's just plain rude.

We stopped at a park where we both sat down on a bench. Neji leaned back slightly and sighed. When I glanced at him, I got the feeling he had something he wanted to say, but he was unsure of how to say it.

I decided to start.

"You were great tonight, Neji." I stated. "Sasuke was right. Your character is scary."

Neji chuckled. "What was the scariest part?"

"Um, I think that was when you screamed."

Neji laughed. "You should've seen the first time we rehearsed that scene. Or at least, the first time we seriously rehearsed that scene. Before we actually started getting serious about our characters, I just did a simple, 'aaaah' until further notice. When I did it the first time, the room went dead silent."

I laughed.

"You should've seen Sasuke's face." Neji stated, turning towards me. "His eyes were wider than dinner plates, and he had literally scrambled away from me in fear."

I laughed. "When Sasuke had you, I was actually afraid." I sighed. "I almost jumped onto the stage to rescue Cole."

"Really?" Neji grinned.

I nodded. "Hinata had grabbed my hand earlier, and that was the only reason my attempt failed. If she hadn't been squeezing my hand, I would've jumped up there."

"Oh boy." Neji looked at his feet. "Sorry for freaking you out I guess."

"You're a good actor, Neji. I don't understand why you'd want to give it up."

"I don't."

I looked at him in shock. "HUH?"

Neji shrugged. "I just don't like being in movies anymore. Acting is something I really like to do. It's a hobby for me. I don't want to make a career out of it."

"Well then...what do you want to make a career out of?"

"I want to be behind the camera." Neji stated. "I want to be one of the people nobody sees, but is still there because they left their mark on the movie. Just like Itachi."

"You want to be...an animator? Or...something?"

Neji shrugged. "Itachi taught me a few things about animation. Plus the computer courses I've been taking are a lot of fun. I don't know if I want to be an animator or I just want to be one of the sound crew or something. I just know I want to be behind the camera."

I nodded. "So what are you going to do for acting?"

"Like I said, I'm going to make a hobby out of it. Maybe I'll take on small time acting jobs in small theatres doing skits every once in awhile."

I nodded slowly. We both lapsed into silence again.

"Tenten?"

"Hm?" I looked towards him. He kept glancing away from me nervously.

He sighed and stared out at the park. "Tenten, I..." He cut himself off, swallowing slightly. "I really appreciate what you've done for me."

I blinked a few times in confusion.

"You've..." He scratched his nose. "You've been a real support for me since I...left the movie industry."

"I...have?" I frowned.

He looked at me. His gaze was so soft and so gentle that my breath caught in my throat.

"Yeah." He said softly. "After I left, I...Dreaded going to public school. I literally forced myself to go that first day, and when I got there, my first fears came true. People swarmed me because I was famous. But there was something different about you. I didn't know what it was but you're gaze wasn't awestruck like all the other girls. It was almost...curious." Neji ran a hand through his hair.

I continued to stare at him in surprise. It felt like my mouth was half open, but I couldn't remember how to close it again.

"You were the first friend I made, you know that right?" Neji asked, his silver eyes meeting mine again.

"I...was?"

Neji nodded slowly. "The private schools I went to were full of snobs and people who thought they were better than everyone else because their parents were famous." His nose wrinkled slightly in disdain. "They sickened me. Angered me. None of them wanted to learn, and because it was the most elite of private schools, the teachers weren't allowed to kick the students out. I had to stay after class to hear what the teachers had been trying to teach on most days, because I wanted to learn. So you can see why I was never friends with them. Nobody liked me in that school. I was a 'nerd'." He made the air quotes. Then he sighed. "Yeah, public school was a big shift, but...I made friends here. And I couldn't have done it without you, Tenten." He looked at me again, a killer smile on his face.

His arm wrapped around my shoulder and pulled me close. I felt my face flushing slightly at the embrace, but I was too stunned to protest. His fingers softly ran through my hair just behind my ear. My head was on his shoulder, so I couldn't see his face.

"I was scared for you, you know?" Neji murmured.

"Huh?" I tried to move so I could look up at him, but he held me in place. I just sighed and relaxed into his embrace, knowing I wouldn't be getting out of it until he was finished his speech. Not to mention I liked being in his arms. I was comfortable there, and I sure couldn't say that very often.

"Back when I was fighting with Hiashi and you and Hinata came into the house. When I saw you there, all I could think was 'Tenten's going to get hurt'. And when you jumped on him to protect Hinata and he started kicking you, I..." Neji held me tighter, pressing his forehead on the top of my head. "I was so scared, Tenten. Because you didn't deserve to go through that. You were like this bright, shining light guiding the way. You were so innocent. Tenten, I hate myself because that happened to you."

"Neji, it's fine. He didn't hurt me too bad."

Neji shook his head slowly. "No, it's not okay, because you wouldn't have gotten hurt if it wasn't for me." He sniffed. "Me and my selfishness."

"You weren't selfish, Neji!" I stated, trying to worm my way from his grip again. He still held me.

"You're wrong." Neji whispered. "I came here because I was being selfish. If I hadn't have come here, I wouldn't have met you and you'd still be living your normal life."

"Maybe normal in a parallel universe, Neji."

"You haven't lived normally since I came into your life." Neji whispered. "I dragged you into Hollywood with me. I couldn't escape my life no matter how hard I tried, and you came along for the ride. The harder I pulled away, the more I stepped back. But this time I had you with me."

I stared at the ground. I didn't really understand what Neji was saying, but at the same time, I knew he had been suffering with this guilt for a really long time.

"It's okay, Neji." I whispered.

Neji sighed. "You just don't get it." He lifted his head and held my face between his hands. I stared into his eyes, seeing an amalgamation of emotions I couldn't describe even if I tried.

"I love you, Tenten."

I didn't even know if I had heard him. There was this ringing sound in my ears, and my mind was a whirl of confused thoughts.

"W-What?" I whispered.

"I love you." He said again, sighing and pressing his forehead against mine. "I don't know whether you can accept that or not, but-"

I scrambled from his arms, staring at Neji in shock. His eyes were wide, his arms still out in front of him as if to hold me. I stood where I was, breathing heavily, my eyes wide.

"How could I accept it?" I cried. "You're famous, Neji! You live in this huge house, with tonnes of money, and..." I trailed off, my lip trembling slightly. "You're perfect in every sense of the world. I know thousands of girls would give their right arms for you!"

Neji lowered his hands, watching me carefully as I continued my rant.

"Why me, Neji? I'm not like you are. You're perfect, and I'm not. So why?" I stared at him as he got off the bench and stepped towards me. I looked up at him even as he was standing right in front of me. "Why me?" I whispered, feeling tears spilling down my cheeks.

Neji's careful gaze didn't stray from my face. "What are you talking about, Tenten?" He brushed the tears off my cheeks with his thumb as he spoke. "You _are_ perfect. You're beautiful in every way."

"What?" I cried, stepping away from him. "No I'm not! I get pimples! My eyes are too big! My teeth are crooked, and I-"

Neji covered my mouth with his hand. "I get pimples too." He stated. "Just not very often. And when I do, they're usually right here." He lifted his long bangs slightly. "I get them along the hairline most of the time, so you just can't see them."

I admit it, I could see a few pimples in the faint light, but still.

Neji dropped his hair with a sigh. "And your eyes aren't too big. You have beautiful eyes, Tenten."

My face went hot. "Stop it." I took another step away from him.

Neji sighed. "I had to wear braces for a few years. I still should be wearing them, but I'm not."

"You can't just take braces off!" I cried.

"No, but you can take invisible braces off."

I frowned. "Invisible?"

Neji nodded.

"Why aren't you still wearing them then?"

"They made my teeth hurt. And since I decided I wasn't going to be acting in movies anymore, I didn't see the point in having perfect teeth." He ran a hand through his hair. "I've stopped using all of these silly expensive products too."

"What do you mean?"

"While I was still acting in movies, in order to keep myself looking 'perfect'" he made air quotes, "I had to use all of these expensive products for my hair, my face, everything that could be seen." Neji sighed. "Bleaching my teeth, filing my nails..." He looked up at the sky. "Yet another annoyance I'm glad to be rid of."

"So..." I watched him carefully.

"In a few more months or so, I guarantee I'm going to look just like everyone in this school. Just until the residual effects of these stupid products wear off. I'm sick of using them. I just want to be normal now."

I looked at the ground.

Neji put his hands on my shoulders. "Tenten, look at me."

I looked up carefully, meeting his serious gaze.

"Don't ever say you're not perfect." He whispered. His hands slid upwards, cupping my face as he stepped closer. "Don't ever say you're not good enough." He murmured.

My heart raced, feeling his lips softly brush mine. He pulled away again, staring into my eyes.

"Because you are good enough." Neji whispered. "In my eyes, you're perfect in every way." His thumbs caressed my cheeks.

I could feel myself shaking, but I couldn't move anywhere. I didn't even know if I wanted to move.

"Why?" I whispered.

"I've met a lot of girls on the set in my lifetime." Neji stated. "Every single one of them were beautiful. Yes, I admit that. On set, I felt honoured to work beside them, but off the set, they were completely different people. The second they opened their mouths, nothing but shit came out. And I'm not exaggerating, Tenten."

I stared at him in shock, awed by his cuss.

"I don't swear very often." Neji stated. "But that's the only word I can use to describe it." He sighed, his forehead pressing against mine again. "But you..." He pulled me closer and nuzzled my hair. "You were this...strange girl. I couldn't figure out why until I realized you wore no makeup. I had been so used to seeing girls piling on the makeup that you surprised me at first. But every time you opened your mouth, you always said beautiful things. You were kind, and caring." His fingers ran down the back of my neck, making me shiver. "You're beautiful, Tenten."

I didn't know how to respond. Nobody ever called me beautiful. Nobody. Sakura has a boyfriend. Ino's had several boyfriends. I've never had a boyfriend. Nobody called me beautiful, except maybe my mom or anyone in the family who hasn't seen me for awhile. But that never counted.

"You think that, huh..." I murmured to myself.

He pulled himself back again, meeting my eyes, a soft smile on his face. "I don't think that. I know that. Others may not see it, but I see it, Tenten."

Then he was so damn close, my breath caught in my throat. His breath tickled my lips as they brushed mine once more. He didn't pull away this time either. I felt smothered by his presence, his hand on the small of my back pulling me closer to him. My hands were pressed against his chest. His other hand softly ran down my face.

"You may think you're not good enough for me," Neji murmured. "But it's me who feels that I'm not good enough for you."

I felt myself shivering, my eyes drifting closed. Nobody had ever said such beautiful things to me. Yet, I knew that the words he had said were the words I had been dreaming of hearing for a long time. My hands slid up to touch his face. I felt him shiver slightly at my touch.

"No, Neji..." I breathed. "You're wrong..."

"Tenten..." He whispered, his voice sounding almost pained.

"You _are_ good enough." I sighed. No sooner than the words had left my mouth, his lips pressed against mine. I wrapped my arms around his neck, pressing my lips into his. It was my first kiss. I didn't want it to end, and I don't think Neji did either.

Eventually it had to, and when it did, we stood there in each other's arms for a long time.

.oOo.

We had been waiting for weeks. Now it was time.

Time to dive into Itachi's pool!

I ran for the edge and leapt into the water. The chill hit me like a slap in the face, but after scorching heat, it felt damn freaking good. Neji dove into the water, headfirst. Everyone was here. Sasuke, Naruto, Sakura, Ino...Even Shikamaru, Sasori and Deidara. Ino was constantly ogling Shikamaru of course. Shikamaru looked like he could care less about Ino.

Neji nudged me with his elbow. I looked at him.

"Ino likes Shikamaru, doesn't she?" He asked, his brows creased in a frown.

I laughed. "Yeah. I think so."

"Tough luck for her then." Neji stated. "He has a girlfriend. She's out on a trip right now, but Itachi told me he was going to propose to her."

"Oh, poor Ino." I laughed.

Neji swam for the general vicinity of the lazy river. I followed him there. As soon as the current caught him, he began to body surf all the way around. He dove beneath the water, using the momentum to propel himself through the rapid water. I followed him under, popping back up right beside him.

Neji's words were true. Ever since the day he told me that in a few months, he would look like everyone else in the school, I'd been watching to see if anything would change. I even took a picture of him a couple of days after he said that. He didn't lie. If I compared him to the 'then' picture and the now which swam right in front of me, he had undergone a dramatic change. Movie stars faces always looked so smooth, and they practically radiated this crazy light that struck people as beautiful. Neji didn't have that anymore. He looked generally the same, but he now looked like everyone else. His hair was flatter and less fluffy looking, not to mention that he _did_ in fact, get pimples.

Regardless of this dramatic change, I still loved Neji. He was still the same Neji, he was just less Hollywood. I didn't feel ugly when I stood beside him anymore. Now that he had jumped off the Hollywood bandwagon, I no longer felt like I didn't deserve him. Oh, and did I mention he was perfect in every way?

I now had my own definition of perfect. This was a perfect moment, right here. Naruto and Sasuke were having a splash fight in the shallow end of the pool. Ino was screaming at Shikamaru for pushing her into the pool when she had been standing on the staircase for ten minutes trying to get used to the water. Hinata and Sakura were hitting a ball back and forth in a game of volleyball. Hanabi was throwing buckets of water on the waterslide, prepping it for sliding. All the while, Itachi watched us with a smile, having spent weeks cleaning and chlorinating the pool just so we could swim in it. I met his eyes, and he gave me a wave.

I knew there was no such thing as true perfection. Nothing was ever flawless. But as soon as you accepted that the world wasn't perfect, and there always would be those little flaws, you could start seeing things in a whole new light. Once you did that, just like I did, you would notice that regardless of all of these little flaws, the world was in fact, perfect in every way.

.

.

.

FIN

**A/N: I'm an optimist. I see the good in everything. But before you guys start launching into crappy debates and bringing up the wars that are currently raging, and how there are hungry children in Africa, and a bunch of other stuff like that and yelling at me because these prove that the world isn't perfect, know that I am aware of all of this. Because of that, I feel this ache in my chest that just wishes for it all to stop, because there is no good in that.**

**Man! It feels SO GOOD to finish this story! I really hope you liked the last chapter. From what I remember when writing it, it was pretty slapped together, but I think I fixed it up pretty well. I hope I did at least.**

**Leave your thoughts! Thanks so much for reading!**


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